Beyond the Afterlife
by spartaleox
Summary: In midfight with his former disciple, Hiruzen Sarutobi snaps as Orochimaru draw the last straw and desacrates the last memory of two parents, but what happens when the cycle of reincarnation decides to throw a wrench. the lives of Konoha and naruto will change very drastically as two souls decide that no matter WHERE and WHEN he is their precoius one and he may just throw all masks
1. Chapter 1

Beyond the afterlife

"normal talk"

 _"_ _normal thoughts"_

 **"** **bijuu/super natural talk"**

 ** _"_** ** _demon/super natural thoughts"_**

I don't own anything, except O.C.

* * *

Hiruzen Sarutobi was seething with undiluted rage, as he watched Orochimaru desecrate one more time the memory of the past Hokage's. Before, he was disappointed and melancholic at seeing how low had his former pupil fallen as he orchestrated this invasion in conjunction with Suna and used a forbidden Jutsu to summon the First and Second Hokage's but now, now he was completely livid with rage. Before him were two open coffins summoned by Orochimaru thanks to a slip off from him, all because he was forced to focus more on his predecessor than on his late apprentice.

"Orochimaru! You… have gone… too FAR!" Hiruzen shouted with pure contempt for his past apprentice

"oh my sensei, if I knew summoning them would rile you up like this I would have done so from the beginning" responded Orochimaru with a chuckle but even him felt a shiver crawl up his spine as he received the killing intent from Sarutobi. Just as Orochimaru was going to apply his obedience tags something in Sarutobi snapped, he would not let this two to be used to destroy the leaf. More importantly he would not let _HIM_ … use _HIS_ parents to destroy the leaf. With newfound strength he blasted off leaving the two past Hokages stunned at his sudden burst of speed. Orochimaru dazed for a second because of the surprise, but in that second Hiruzen made his move and launched Enma in his Bo form at terminal speed.

"now, ENMA!" he shouted as the Bo suddenly expanded wide as it also lengthened striking Orochimaru's extended right forearm, smashing it completely and leaving hanging limp just some torn pieces of flesh. Even if he could repair the damage, the pain of it made Orochimaru grunt and swear bloody murder.

"FUUUCK! You shitty old man, go die already like worthless pie-" he could finish that as Hiruzen's sole slammed to his face sending off a few feet. He turned to two of his most precious people.

"Minato, Kushina! I'll set you free!" at this the two figures seemed to snap out of a daze and looked at him thoroughly confused and Hiruzen made some hand signs and two dragon maws of earth surged and tried to smash on to them. Unfortunately he was forced to abandon his technique when Orochimaru extended arm with Kusanagi in hand almost impaled him. Then the first's mokuton smashed at the same time at his earth Jutsu. From the wreckage Minato and Kushina's forms emerged, still confused and unable to completely act on their own but still out of Orochimaru's control, as he still hadn't applied his obedience tag.

"3rd? Why… wait the Kyuubi… Kushina?" mumbled Minato's corpse

"Mina-kun?... what… Saru-jiji, what?" said Kushina as she glanced at the sight before them. Orochimaru chuckled and sneered at them

"my isn't this a lovely get together, the Yondaime after giving his life protecting the village from the terrible Nine tailed fox is given a second chance to meet his wife… and destroy this accursed village!" shouted Orochimaru before he laughed like a lunatic

"I… but I died in… another place… I was already… dead?" said minato in a low tone.

"Yeah… I died two times?... Kushina... not so-?"

"No… both! two sets of memories" responded minato. Orochimaru seemed to not take notice and continued his rambling

"But you two should be happy, after all is this shitty village that has manhandled, abused and made a pariah of your precious son, kukuku for the past 12 years!"

 _"_ _Son!?"_

 _"_ _Son!?"_

This snapped the two from their quiet musings and brought the full brunt of their last moments 12 years ago as their son laid before them and the Kyuubi's claw sticking from their stomachs as the sealing process was kicking in. the ghastly figure of THE shinigami looming over their bodiers as they hold still the behemoth of a claw sticking through their guts. They were saying their last words to him trying to ease his cries and told him they were and would always be proud of him, that he as his dad had faith that he would be able to carry this burden and that he was mightily sorry to give it to him in the first place. But something unexpected happened and as they were claimed by the Shinigami he said in barely a whisper

 ** _"_** ** _For past services, (…) if the conditions are set (…)"_**

As if on cue a loud boom was heard in the distances and the one tailed Raccoon could be seen from miles away emerging. It roared mightily screaming freedom, then a few seconds later another massive boom was heard as a gigantic red toad with a blue vest and carrying a tanto emerged from a white smoke cloud. Orochimaru narrowed his eyes as her saw Gamabunta.

"Don't tell me Jiraiya-kun is here" Orochimaru scowled as Gamabunta battled the Ichibi without being able to land a decisive blow

"It seems not all went according to plan Orochimaru"

"Details dear sensei at the end of the day Konoha shall burn with your oh-so- _precious will of fire_ along with you shriveling old man" smirked Orochimaru as he talked as if you talked about the weather. Another explosion was heard and Gamabunta was no more and a visage of the Kyuubi was seen charging the Ichibi

"Ah seems that Naruto-kun wants to play how amusing for the demon boy use the image of the demon to _protect_ the village, well amusing as he was it's about time he left the stage kuku." said Orochimaru with evil mirth and a sneer as he launched himself to Minato and Kushina keeping Hiruzen busy with the Hokage brothers. Panic filled the 3rd hokage he would not be able to hold his own against them and his failure to Naruto's family would be complete. Just as Orochimaru was about to slam his obedience tags Minato's hand caught his wrist and slammed him to the ground.

 _"_ _Protect… that's right! I'm also_ the one who protects _I have no time to doubt, I can only go forward!"_ suddenly minato's form started to change at rapid pace; first his decrepit form filled out replaced by healthy looking skin albeit with some sort of crack here and there, then his changes became more dramatic as the kanji for soul glowed on his chest and the cracks started expand over. His body started dissolving like papers picked up by the wind revealing a whole other person beneath. This was a young man with large but lean physique brown eyes and striking orange hair and was towering over Orochimaru with roughly 1.80m. He was wearing a black shihakushō and a bonie white shoulder plate with crossed straps where rested a black oversized Khyber knife, with the grip at the base of the blade and a handle extending back from this about roughly the width and length of his forearm. It had a thin, hollowed-out portion running along the back edge of the blade from the base to the middle of the blade. A second blade rested on his hip it was relatively small, about the size of his arm, and similar to the first blade, but resembled a trench knife with an enclosed guard.

"Who are you!" growled Orochimaru still in the man's grasp, he simply eyed him with a hardened stare and swiftly battered him against the floor again and throwed him against the barrier walls but the snake sannin righted himself and avoided smashing onto it. All the presents' eyes widened as they saw this new warrior manhandle a sannin like he was some ragdoll. The past Hokages felt silent orders come and attacked the man. However he grabbed the still corpse of Kushina and disappeared from their sight and reappears where Hiruzen was. Only years of war and battle hardened experience prevented him from yelping when this man landed softly beside him. Kushina looked at him and spoke with a voice that was not hers.

"Kuro…saki?..." Sarutobi arched an eyebrow at Kushina

"Snap out of it! regardless of who we were _before_ and _now_ both of the women I loved never hesitated to act swiftly, if we don't our only chance to save the son we have _now_ and never could have _before_ will be lost forever" he said as his messy hair yellowed from the tips and grew up to his shoulders and his eyes changed to electric blue just like Minato's own. Then Kushina's expression hardened and became resolute and kissed him. Kushina went thru the same transformation, leaving behind a lite woman with a very obvious martial build. She had raven short hair and two long ponytails wrapped in white clothe that reached all the way to end of her shoulder blades and ended in a golden circlet as a sort of safepin in each ponytail. She wore the same shihakushō but fitted to her frame and she wore a white sleveless haori with light orange lining inside and the kanji for 2nd inside a diamond on the back, strapped to her back was a wakizashi with blue scarab and yellow hilt. They broke off the kiss and she looked at him with soft grey eyes. He rubbed softly her cheek with back of his hand and cupped his with hers and she said softly and barely audible but the emotions behind were very palpable.

"Ichigo… lets go to our sochi" she responded as her moistened eyes became violet and her hair reddened, but unlike Kushina's vibrant flaming red this one was barely red, a dark red eerily reminiscent of blood red.

"you keep getting more and more entertaining, I'll take my time figuring out just what have you done once I have you in my dissection table kukuku" laughed Orochimaru as if all of this was just a minor inconvenience and the two hokages charged again. Tobirama draw the moisture of the air and created several senbons that flew right to the trio and three dragon heads sprouted from the floor to their sides and back. Hiruzen was prepping an earth barrier when he heard Kushina-not-kushina recite something.

 **"** **Bakudo No. 57** ** _Sora no me, chōdo shōheki_** **"** (heavenly eye; just barrier, as in justice) incanted the woman and immediately a golden circle shined bellow them with a closed eyed figure. The attacks of Hashirama and Tobirama collided with the border of the circle and instantly were nullified as an equal force pushed them back when the eye figure opened.

"Never been so happy to see some unknown jutsu Saru" said tobirama

"So am I Tobirama-sensei" responded Sarutobi as the Shodaime smiled softly relieved that whoever these two new arrivals were they seemed to be on konoha's side for now. From his position Orochimaru eyed warily the strangers before them. As much as he was intrigued by this enigma, he couldn't help to be slightly worried. The man had an unbelievable strength and whatever he did was making him heal more slowly, his arm blasted by the old man had already regenerated with his shedding but his wrist was still fractured and unusable.

Ichigo eyed the barrier and some of his knowledge as Minato came back. He grabbed _Yasei Zangetsu_ (the big one, Yasei: Savage) instead of _Old man Zangetsu_ (the trench knife) for his corroding reiatsu. Sui-feng took the hint she grabbed Sarutobi, much to his discomfort from the shirt neck and made him back off as black reiatsu gathered on ichigo's zanpakuto. All of them least Sui-feng were surprised as an unknown force pressed down on them when the eerie dark energy gathered on the oversized sword. Ichigo raised his sword and slashed downward to one of the corners while softly letting all within earshot know the name of the technique.

 **"** **Getsuga Tensho"** and the air screeched as the crescent mass of blackness engulfed everything in its path roaring like a mad beast. For the infortune of Tayuya of the Sound Four she was the one in charge of the corner Ichigo decided to attack and could only stare wide eyed as the roaring wave neared her.

"Why you gotta be shitting me! What in bloody hell is that shit!" Tayuya screamed as the Getsuga crashed upon her corner and after some 5 odd seconds it shattered the inner barrier and after another 5 it shattered the outer one. The jounin outside had to dodge as the energy wave still went forward carving its way past the stadium, they were still getting their bearings when they heard an screeching through the air. Those with the great eye sight saw a woman practically soaring through the air screaming bloody murder and some not so friendly promises to some Ichigo. Then said woman was engulfed in pure white light and speed off like a shooting star towards the ongoing battle with the Ichibi.

As it turns out when Ichigo's Getsuga Tensho went past the first barrier, he promptly grabbed the petite Sui-Feng by the Obi hefting her over his over his shoulder, earning an _eep_ from her. While he used his other hand to balance himself he took a stance not unlike a Quarterback from football.

"Go get our son, I'll deal with the old timers and the pedophile Mayuri rip-off" he told her with an amused smile before, with a heavy grunt, she was practically launched off when Ichigo used some reishi manipulation with _Old man Zangetsu's_ help.

"I really hope that red-head girl is not dead, I tried to make the crescent circumvent her" he muttered as he turned to Orochimaru with a scowl that promised punishment. He then eyed the past hokages and again knowledge from his time as Minato flooded his mind and got some inspiration, it seemed that both of his life times were slowly merging together. While he doubted he could wield chakra by the feel of his body, he got the impression that his skills, knowledge and maybe muscle memory remained. He flexed his right hand and got ready as the gears of his mind began to stir.

"Sarutobi…" the 3rd hokage flinched at the familiarity "Sorry, guess its unnerving; Hiruzen better?" said Ichigo apologetically

"Latter" Ichigo just nodded

"Get ready for it, and then watch out" said Ichigo cryptically Sarutobi nodded as he understood the underlying message. Then the air thickened again albeit _much_ more subdued than before and Ichigo raised his hand and wrote on the air, seemingly.

 **"** **Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini! Look upon yourself with horror and then claw out your own throat!"** he shouted as a kanji glowed in the space he previously wrote. Hiruzen didn't know what that was, but trusting the figure that seemingly used to be Minato, took off and went on the offensive with Enma

 **"** **Bakudo No. 9 Geki!"** finished Ichigo and immediately both resurrected Hokages were frozen still as a red glow outlined them. Hiruzen promptly launched two shuriken and with a hand sign, said weapons bursted in flames and each of them shimmered as several copies appeared. Ichigo not finished began chanting again.

 **"** **Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south!"** though he made a slight change; as the chanting took care of the overall process he willed the Kido to spin.

Orochimaru quickly understood their game plan and tried to stop the shurikens but with just one hand his Jutsus available were limited so he used **_Fuuton: Shinkuutai Naihatsu_** in a futile attempted to knock away his sensei's attack. Several bursts of air disrupted some of the shurikens in their path. But they still reached their mark exploding and destroying the heads of the frozen Edo Tensei victims, promptly revealing the tags in them. Not wasting time the 3rd Hokage barreled out of the way, idly noting the outer barrier was up again, barely after he heard.

 **"** **Hado No. 31 Shakkaho!"** and two swirling crimson red rassengan like orbs shot straight to their targets impacting dead on them. Ichigo cursed to himself as one of them was slightly off and stroke the Firsts shoulder, he doubted that the great Hashirama Senju would fall for the same trick twice. He quickly began to think of ways to surprise them when the Shakkaho's actually exploded and consumed both Edo Tensei's completely, in crimson maelstroms. Few seconds later all that remained were ashes and a soft whisper.

 ** _"_** ** _Well played boy"_** Ichigo just growled and flicked his trench knife to Orochimaru firing a cutting shockwave that almost gutted him in two. He managed to get always with just a cut on the stomach, but his suspicions were proven as he saw that whatever he was doing all his attacks made healing _very_ slow. The cut was barely even healing and his wrist had just repaired itself and it still was sore. He was taken out of his musings as he sensed the young man appear behind him and whirled out of his way as he slashed at him. Orochimaru parried with his Kusanagi and several sparks flew from the swords clash.

 _KLANG!_

 _SWOOSH_

 _KLAANG_

 _SCREECH_

 _KLANG!_

Ichigo was relentless on his onslaught against Orochimaru. While the snake himself was holding very well against him, he couldn't really get on the offensive. His snake style wasn't quite cutting it and ichigo's style was rought and unpredictable. It wasn't a brawler style mind you, but it was unorthodox; almost instinctive, but very precise, deadly and so fucking strong. Outright blocking was out of the picture, the first time he did so was like being slapped by Manda's tail bash. Orochimaru now very wary of whatever ability this Minato-not-minato had that thwarted healing keep dodging and parrying the strikes. He opened his mouth and two snakes shot fangs aimed at Ichigo, he cut them but the remains exploded. Orochimaru extended his sleeves and anaconda like snakes bursted out towards the smoke, but Ichigo shunpoed behind Orochimaru and slashed at him with _Zangetsu._ Orochimaru avoided the blade but the snakes were cut apart and surprisingly pain shot through his arm. Ichigo twirled his body using his momentum; with _Old man Zangetsu_ he fired a white-blue wave from the blade.

 **"** **Getsuga Tensho"** he said mid swing as the getsuga was firing of, he knew that naming your attack before you fire them was a bad idea but still old habits die the hardest. With a light chuckle he noticed how some habits from his two lives contradicted each other. The blast crashed at the barrier cracking it a bit shacking the battle field but Orochimaru was nowhere to be seen. Then he promptly made to stab the ground on his left side and Orochimaru jumped out of the way from the floor. He slashed upwards in a diagonal fashion to his left side, making Orochimaru dodge to the right. The Enma Bo form extended and almost got him on the gut as he ducked below. The three got in a fast paced exchange of sword slashes, kicks and punches as much as Orochimaru tried to get the upper hand with his snakes jutsus the flares of pain Ichigo's swords dealt to him were too much. Ichigo sent several air slashes and forced Orochimaru back.

Ichigo paused for a moment, never losing sight of Orochimaru who looked a bit winded but Sarutobi was starting to struggle just to keep up. He rolled his shoulder and cracked his neck; when he felt a spike in Sui-Feng's reiatsu followed by a loud _Boom_ and by the feel of her reiatsu it wasn't good. It had been tinted with fear, apprehension and for a brief moment hesitance.

"Warm-up it's over fucker" suddenly said Ichigo as his scowl deepened.

"Don't get cocky Min- er Kurosaki-san"

"You've provided much amuss-" Orochimaru couldn't finish his rant as the invisible pressure came again by tenfold. Sarutobi stared wide eyed as ichigo's figure was surrounded by heavy dark energy with red tints in it. He turned to Sarutobi.

"Get out as soon it breaks, I'm going to get my son…" Sarutobi was about to question him but shut up as his field vision was filled with black and the roaring wave once again was released and first shot upwards smashing to barrier shattering the top most part of it. Then with a double handed downward slash it raced toward his past apprentice obscuring him from view, the roaring deafening his screams as the attack hit him since all the space inside was being filled with the technique. The snake sannin felt his limbs and body mauled, bitten, scorched and disintegrated all at the same time by this unholy energy and pain like never before coursed his nervous system; went past this and bored onto his soul, he didn't know if it made sense but it felt right like the attack was striking his very soul. Everything just faded to black before Sarutobi raced out of the crumbling purple cube. As he landed outside of the barrier the Konoha shinobi near him rushed over.

"Hokage-sama!" whats happening and who's that man and woman?" inquired Kakashi

"I'm not sure kakashi, one minute Orochimaru used the Edo Tensei on minato and Kushina and the next they transform on two completely different people but still…" he stopped as he remembered they were out in the open.

"Sensei and Kushina were brought back!?"

"Yes, at least for a moment but it's too soon to assume too much. I only know that they fought off the first and second hokage's and went straight to Naruto I would most likely be death by now if not for Kurosaki Ichigo" kakashi and the few jounin senseis present were shell shocked by the news the fourth and his presumed lover brought back with a forbidden justsu, then they turn into someone else completely and fought off a sannin AND the first two hokages!

They eyed the black energy from the attack dissipate suddenly they heard a _swoooosh_ and next thing they know the red headed girl from the four that set up the barrier came flying in a screech and was nailed to a wall as giant black Khyber knife pinned her from one of her very torn uniform looped laces. Then a man landed next to the 3rd hokage.

"Ah Ichigo-san, is…?" said Sarutobi

"He escaped, some kids took off with him but I crippled him pretty badly he won't perform jutsus in a long time" he said with a sadistic smile, then he got serious again "My first priority is reaching Soi-Feng and my son though; I'll be taking her as prisoner she was mostly injured because of me" pointing to the red-head hanging from the wall

"Who do you think-"

"Very well" cut in the 3rd, all were stunned that their hokage agreed so easily to hand over a war prisoner with potential info.

"Hey shit head! Where you get to decide that and how the fuck did you pinned me to a wall- Ooof!" she too was cut off, when the midnight black sword dislodged itself from the wall and flew straight to its wielder hand, letting her fall unceremoniously to the rooftop.

"Not in the mood so be thankful you're not directly in my shit list" said Ichigo as he gave her an icy glare that leaved no quarters. Tayuya promptly shut up as a shiver ran up her spine.

"we will talk about my son being a pariah later" he said to Hiruzen in a cold something took his attention and worry filled his face.

"Shit" he said and gathered his spiritual pressure on his blade, all the shinobi near the area got a shiver at the sheer pressure and the sudden thickening on the air. Ichigo ignored the frightened shinobi and _stabbed_ the air with his swords and a loud thundering was getting near.

Few minutes earlier Sui-feng was racing through the air toward her sochi, her son. As he went past the village she noticed that the invasion was not going so smoothly for the invaders, which seemed to be Suna and some other force she didn't recognize. Apparently something went wrong as the invading forces were discordinated and couldn't quite yet cripple the defending forces. If she had to take a guess the Ichibi was supposed to rampage inside Konoha. Soon both the Ichibi and the henged Gamabunta where near her. Gamabunta in his fox appearance jumped and tried to latch to the Ichibi but the sand raccoon enraged apparently because the _nine tailed fox_ supposed appearance, recoiled and avoided him. Soi-Feng could now see her sochi on top of the Toad boss head, she knew that keeping a henge this massive for so long was extremely draining. It was already impressive he actually pulled it off but it would last for long and she just knew it.

"Don't worry sochi, Kaa-san is here and will help you take down this oversized raccoon" Sui-Feng whispered to herself as she came up with a plan when she saw Gamabunta dodge the massive **Air bullets Jutsu** from the Ichibi.

"God Damn it would that freaking raccoon shut up already" shouted Naruto as he struggling to keep himself on Gamabunta's head as he skidded after dodging Shukaku's air jutsu

 **"** **Focus gaki we need to get you on his head so you can dispel his** ** _false death jutsu! Being honest I'm running on fumes right now_** **"** Naruto grumbled more in frustration than in anything else.

"Right!" answered Naruto; suddenly there was a big white flash oh the Tailed beasts back quickly followed by a loud explosion. The explosion not unlike a small meteorite impact actually created ripples on his sand body. Gamabunta in his henge arched an eyebrow but hey who was he to not take a freebie.

"What the he-"

 **"** **Hold on gaki that's a kamisend!"** replied Gamabunta as he raced again against the damned Ichibi as it screamed at the unexpected impact on his back

"Roger that Oyabun!"

 **"** **Who dares? To..!"**

"Shut the fuck up you oversized raccoon 'ttebane!" a feminine voice with a very familiar verbal tick, Gamabunta almost froze up when he heard said tick. Before the Bijuu could actually turn back he was greeted with another earth shattering strike that pretty much blasted his jaw off. Both Naruto and Gamabunta were awed at the power display but they didn't stop and charged on. Gamabunta jumped and managed to latch himself to the sand raccoon. The henge fell off immediately and Naruto jumped down to the mad Bijuu aiming for the forehead allowing him to get brief sight of the crazy strong woman, if the voice was anything to go by. In those brief moments Naruto was completely awed clad up in pure white lighting a redheaded beauty snarled in womanly fury at the Sand raccoon, she was lean and athletic clad in black attire that exposed her back completely as the lighting raced through it. their eyes locked just for a second on each other. She gave him a warm smile, completely in contrast with her past scowl yet it seemed so right in her face. Her eyes seemed to bore onto him scanning him and taking note of every minute detail, they seemed so familiar. Her gaze and the loving look she gave him made Naruto think that it was as if just seeing him had made her day worth it a thousand times.

 _"_ _Why do her eyes seem so familiar, it's as if they call on to me"_

 _"_ _sochi…"_

Fleeting moment it was between a mother and her unknowing son. Naruto continued his trek to the Ichibi's forehead but the Raccoon jerked his body and so Naruto landed near his shoulder.

"Fuck!" Naruto grunted but wasted no time began to run up the giant beast shoulder sticking himself with chakra. But suddenly tendrils of sand sprouted from the Raccoons body with miniature Ichibis Heads

 **"** **Last hit gaki then I'm out don't waste it!"** Shouted the giant toad summon as he shot **Oil bullets** making the Ichibi stager and clearing the way from the sand tendrils he wasted no time and ran up with renown strength.

"Thanks a lot Oyabun!"

 **"** **Just finish the job gaki!"** and he exploded in white smoke disappearing completely

 ** _"_** ** _I really hope even if it foolish and impossible but I really hope it was her… then maybe the gaki will finally have the peace of mind he deserves"_**

Naruto raced right up where Gaara was but the sand was starting to repair the damage and he also was severely weakened he couldn't go any faster. Then a screech pierced his ear and then the light came, the woman from before came before him with an all-buisness face.

"If know what to do tell me what you need" she said in an emotionless tone as she ran beside him

"I need to reach up to where Gaara is and smack the bastards head hard"

"Done!" she said as the lighting surged from her arms and she grabbed him from the belt and raised him in a familiar stance

"Hey lady what's the big ide… woah!" Naruto screamed as he was thrown like he was some ball or something (football ovoid actually but who cares) and soared at impossible speeds with eyes watering from the insane wind rush.

"heh… now I know why he likes to do that so often" Naruto flew right onto Gaara and gave him a speed powered right punch right on the face. Effectively breaking the jutsu and the Bijuu's body began decomposing and loose integrity.

"Wake up! God damn it Gaara" gaara in half a snarl half a yawn eyed Naruto and cursed him

"Na…ruto U…zuma…ki!" as both of them were falling and the pieces of the sand construct crashing down a particular big chunk exploded on contact with the ground and hurled them savagely onto the threes. They crashed thru branches and slammed heavily against the trunk of a very big three, they finally hit the floor bloodied and ragged.

 _"_ _Feels like something popped inside of me, probably not good"_ grimaced Naruto

"Damn you! I need to prove my existence" growled gaara who was just slightly in better condition than Naruto because of his sand armor, even if it was falling off right now.

"it hurts doesn't it?"

"!?"

"It hurts very badly being alone… that nobody actually tries to even recognize you're there… that you exist" said Naruto as he started crawling up to him leaving a trail of blood.

"What?"

"I know perfectly, I know your pain because I've felt it too, we really are very similar I got the feeling since our first meeting"

"Then how… how are you this strong" said gaara reeling at the blondes stubbornness as he neared him and gaara started to try to get away. Something in Naruto scared him. It scared him because he then knew that he would not be stopped by anything.

 _"_ _What could it be that makes him so strong"_

"Because I met people that saw me for who I truly am, granted some can be an ass sometimes, they still are my precious people… because of that I would give my life to protect them, I care more about them than I do for myself and I won't stop at nothing, I will stop you believe it (dattebayo)"

"But why, why would you go to such length for somebody besides yourself?"

"Because they saved me from myself; they saved me from my loneliness, they saved me from becoming what you've become" then he lost consciousness. Gaara was completely stunned and began to remember his good time with yashamaru. At this time Sasuke arrived and went to Naruto in a hurry.

"Naruto! Please, please, please wake up" he said as he cradled his head on his lap in uncharacteristic worry

"whats the matter teme, not your style at all" he groaned weakly and noticed the small tears forming on the corner of his eyes, he idly his face was less hard lined and more slim and soft

"SOCHIII!" Sui-Feng screamed as she landed near them. Sasuke instantly got on the defensive and whipped a kunai readying as best she could to fight this woman. Alas she was frozen stiff when she blasted him with a wave of killing intent. Naruto groaned as she saw the visage of the pretty lady with scary blood red hair.

"Don't have time for your shit honey, get out of the way or help get my sochi to safety" Sasuke was still doubtful of this woman claims of being naruto's mother but his life took precedence and she detected no deceit in her for now.

"He…lp Ga..ara" croaked Naruto, said woman groaned and seemed to battle with herself for a second

"Pick up the sand kid! First check for any external bleeding then piggy back him and get ready this will be rough" Sasuke wanted to argue but did as he was told. Gaara seemed to be ok for now he got hold of him and carried him.

 **"** **Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini! Look upon yourself with horror and then claw out your own throat! Double Bakudo No. 9 Geki-Horin"** she shouted and a red glow surrounded them and paralyzed them except the woman, next a rope of orange lighting surrounded him and gaara together connecting them to the supposed mother of naruto. She quickly but very tenderly lifted Naruto and cradled him in her arms.

"Shunko!" she shouted and white lighting erupted from her back and raced down it to her legs and coursed through her arms. Before he could even think to ask they blasted off the ground as the woman practically flew up in the air and once every while she took a step in the thin air. Sasuke couldn't even speak from the shock as they neared Konoha by the second. Sui-Feng started flaring her reiatsu in hopes that her husband picked it up and he wrapped things up, their son was very gravely injured and even with the Kyuubi in him his life was in danger. She could only hope that Unohana's apprentice in Soul Society (SS) was able to help them. As they neared the stadium she felt Ichigo's spirit pressure flare up and was relieved when she saw him trying to open a Senkaimon but it didn't seemed to open. She was a bit concerned as she wasn't still sure this was the realm she thought it was.

"Ichigo! Pump as much power you can I'll guide it" she shouted as she landed ignoring the people around her. Her beloved eyed quickly their son and then the ones behind her still caught in her Kidos

"We need Orihime! She can heal as much as Unohana could" he said putting a hand on her shoulder and she only nodded inserting her own Zanpakuto where Ichigo's where a moment ago. She focused and visualized the Orangette that always was around him in the past, even if she never had strong interactions with her at the beginning, a brief episode of jealousy had led them to a somewhat dramatic _bout,_ but that was a story for another time _._ Thinking about that time she could perfectly picture her. Just then she gasped as her beloved pumped massive amounts of reiatsu through her system, she momentarily feared her body wouldn't be able to handle the strain but it seemed somewhat of her physiology as _Kushina_ remained as her body accepted the influx of energy and almost feed from it. She refocused and made the connection with the Senkaimon and forcibly directed it to wherever the busty human woman where.

"We'll return this one's after they're healed but Naruto is a whole other matter Sarutobi" said Ichigo in a deep growl and then they entered the spirit gate that materialized from thin air and mist.

"I'm too old for this" Groaned Sarutobi

The SS was having a relative peaceful day as they were slowly but surely recovering from what the new generations of students and fresh graduated from the Shinigami Academy had come to call the Great Crisis wars of SS. The devastation caused by the aftermath of the Aizen betrayal, the Winter War, the fullbring incident & 1000 year blood war was so great that the surviving Shinigamis were currently a minority from the SS population; barely less than on third of it. they were viewed as veterans and called the Old Generation heroes. Of course this also included the group of four humans that through blood and sweat had actually made SS change its iron clad views. Each one of them a legend on his own, along with their shinigami friends, they rapidly became a role model and inspiration to the new generations. But the one that distinguished above was none other than Kurosaki Ichigo for his sacrifice alongside his, at the time, secret lover former 2nd Squad captain Sui-Feng at the hands of the Quincy King in an all-out suicide move. The group of friends had actually ended moving to SS as their powers grew too great and would start affecting the people from Karakura Town. They readily accepted as the town itself was a constant remainder of their lost friend almost 30 years ago.

The peace of that day was thoroughly disturbed as an unofficial Senkaimon opened inside the Seireitei and made all the reiatsu alarms flare. Then every single shinigami was hit with the brunt force of two of the strongest reiatsu's they could imagine. Three fourths of the Shinigami corps were floored to the ground and even some fainted. The remaining last, not only resisted but instantly recognized the two powers and could only whisper in awe, shock and incredulity.

"…they're alive…"

* * *

 **Hey hope you like the idea and enjoy the story, pls review and if you liked my writing style check my other stories**

 **now for the moment i won't enter into detail as how the reiatsu and chakra concepts will interact with each other, cause i'll be abording that in the next two chapters slowly so pls have some patience and bear with me XD**

 **as always Enjoy**


	2. Chapter 2 Pull-off a kurosaki

Beyond the afterlife

"normal talk"

 _"_ _normal thoughts"_

 **"** **bijuu/super natural talk"**

 ** _"_** ** _demon/super natural thoughts"_**

I don't own anything, except O.C.

Few minutes before though; Orihime Inoue was pacing placidly from the 12th division to her quarters in the 4th division barracks. Happy with herself as the 12th had taken a liking to her "cooking" and oft lately had been eager to try her new recipes. However unknown to her the 12th actual interest in her was that; whenever they needed a new type of toxin, poison or plain wanted to test their mettle against the orangette 's "concoctions" she was just a call away. Some debated whether to tell her or not, but alas all of them were stopped by her friends. In hindsight both the 4th & 12th divisions had increased their knowledge of poisons and their treatments by leaps and bounds so the Captain-commander let it go.

Getting back on track said orangette was nearing her division when a strange senkaimon gate materialized before her. While she was just weirded out, few around her were freaking out as senkaimon gate weren't supposed to appear randomly inside the SS barrier. The gate in question was very weird, even in Orihime's standards. It resembled a torii gate weathered by time, the red painting darkened & cracking in some places and the woodwork somewhat crooked; yet it stood stoutly in a fashion that seemingly reminded of the past Captain-commander unwavering strength despite his age. In the gate's entrance; shimmered onto existence an all too familiar sliding doors covered in mist and several hell's butterflies fluttered aimlessly. The doors started to open with a soft sliding and as soon as they were completely open two all too familiar reiatsus flooded out and nearly choked everyone in the vicinity. Both of them awfully familiar to her, emotions runned rampant in her and she became oblivious of her fellow squad members as they fainted. A single tear made its way down her cheek.

Sure enough the owners of the nostalgic signatures busted out of the gate in a hurry. As soon as they were out, they only took a minute moment to take note of where they were. While a passing thought left them wondering why they were in SS and not on the human world; it was quickly filed away, their main priority was finding the Orangette healer. As quickly as they took notice of where they were; as soon as they saw Orihime they locked on her. The poor girls for a moment flinched as she felt like a little rabbit before two falcons. The pair shunpo'ed to her and she quickly took notice of the hurt boy on Sui-feng's arms and the other two dragged behind her wrapped up in some kido.

"Inoue! Please you gotta help us" shouted Ichigo as he neared her

"Please save my sochi! I don't know how much longer this kido can keep him stable" all but wept Sui-Feng begging Orihime. Her medic instincts flared up and unconsciously filed away all her questions. Her face became serious and just nodded; a child was in peril that's all she needed to know.

"Follow me! Prepare an emergency operation room; the four highest seats presents are to assist me, whoever is in support rotation get ready and someone get Captain Isane here!" commanded Orihime Inoue as she entered doctor mode and conducted Sui-Feng through the barracks to an ER. Few moments later four seated officer entered the room and began to prepare for operation as they were assisted by the support personnel.

"put the boy as gently as you can on the table and please leave the room" his mother did as told and very reluctantly was dragged out of the ER by her husband. Their only reassurance was the soft orange glow emanating from the Orangette.

"Soten Kisshun!" and a light orange field covered naruto's battered body as the kidos wore off. Orihime quickly began to address the severity of the wounds running a diagnostic kido and listing off the wounds out loud, while keeping up her healing field up. What she encountered made her stomach lurch; not because she wasn't used to it by now, because this type of wounds are seldom seem outside of military people or that are constantly on some sort of battlefield. This boy for all her accounts had the same battle scars and damage that an average Shinigami seated officer collected in 20 years or so. Some signs of malnutrition, massive scar tissue both outside and inside; poor child obvious child abuse signs, thank god those were the more old and had stopped.

The more urgent wounds were his ruptured spleen, various fractures all over his body from his ribs to the damn tibia; but his femur and cervical were priority, he was losing blood rapidly.

"Yoshida! Get his femur and make sure it doesn't puncture his artery; Sakamato! Runs some quick blood test and then get some blood packs, Manaka! Prepare him I'm going to extract the spleen you be ready to drain the blood & Sachi immobilize his cervical and start healing them" they all scrambled into action according to their instruction. Medical treatment had actually advance quite some in the years since the human trio had come, using both types of medical care. Turns out it much simpler; and energy wise for the healer, to do some quirugical intervention and then heal only the wounds of the operation. Trying to "boost" only the body natural healing and try to get rid of the whole problem was more time and energy consuming than it needed to be. Outside of the ER the couple could somewhat hear Orihime barking orders and as much as that was off putting they were too concerned to pay it mind at the moment. By this time both Sasuke and Gaara were already being taken care by the others members of the 4th, while both of them tried to resist they were quickly put to sleep with a simple kido and laid on beds.

Ichigo glanced around noticed only the more veteran members were withstanding his and Sui-Feng's spirit pressure. He nudged her a little and she also took notice, they were exerting too much Reiatsu on the area. She chided herself for letting her emotions get her that badly, but then again right now she was just at the border to collapse, weep, rage, kill someone and strangle her former Lieutenant, not necessarily in that order. Still they both lowered their power and received appreciative looks from all the other medics. Ichigo just mouthed a silent "sorry" but truth be told he was just as concerned as his wife just that the Minato part of him helped in curb it down somewhat, yet his powerful grip on Sui-Feng hand belied his other hand that soothingly stroked and patted her back as she leaned on his chest.

"Ichigo, I wouldn't I just wouldn't be able to take if he were to, if he were to! Not a second time, for us it could have been just a few hours ago the whole debacle with the Kyuubi!" Her breathing hitched threatening to become a weep and tears moistened her eyes. He just hugged her both with his powerful arms and his reaitsu and she calmed down somewhat. She was enveloped in his strong embrace and felt protected and safe, his spirit power permeated her skin and made it crawl as a mantle of warmth and love caressed her being and soothed her.

"Shh, shh its Okay breath and calm yourself … you know I would trust Orihime with my own life; I would trust her with yours, Kami forbid it,if it came to be. She'll heal him and give him back to us our sochi." She just sniffed and nodded knowing herself that she also trusted the orangette healer abilities just the same as her beloved, much to her chagrin; she had already saved him a number of times. She lost for a second again and sobbed and simply wept with her face buried in ichigo's chest. While his aura did calm her down, she was right now in a emotional roller coaster. She cried and wept both from the sorrow of the still fresh (for her) whole Nine Tails debacle, losing her son; regaining him, seeing him at the brink of death, realizing that she also trusted the damn woman with her son and feeling the oh so familiar reiatsu of her husband permeate her being once again. It was simply too much even for the two lifetime hardened warrior.

* * *

As it was to be expected, after the couple rather "abrupt" entrance their friends all took notice of their signatures and zeroed in on their location. When they realized they were on the 4th they all made haste as fears of they being gravely hurt surfaced. The few in all SS who knew who they were, refused to have a light of hope just to be snatched away so abruptly. In a way or another, their passing of them both had hit hard on their friends and loved ones. All of them from the Vizored still around, the old generation shinigami to their childhood friends and family wanted an explanation and this time not even Y. Batch would stand in their wake.

The first one to arrive not surprisingly were Yoruichi & Urahara both garbed in their informal clothes; as they refused to take Captaincy and liked doing the odd jobs. They were followed by the Kuchiki brother & sister Captains as they carried over Yuzu and Karin; still too much green to keep up with their shunpo. Next arrived Uryu and Chad in a frantic pace and crazy eyes who just gazed everyone else for confirmation. They all proceeded to enter the 4th as they sensed the signatures of more of their friends closing in.

"I'm sure we all came to the same conclusions when we felt it, but lets keep ourselves together before we do anything else I fell their still inside and in great emotional stress it seems" said quickly Urahara cutting off the coming questions of the more impatient ones. They all nodded and stiffened when he said the last part. As they entered all the 4th members were stunned to witness a gathering like this, after all who could claim to be able to see in one place most of the Crisis Wars Heroes at the same time. All of the stunned were promptly ignored as they walked to the two spirit signatures that mattered to all of them. They were greeted with scene that never in their wildest dreams they would imagine as they catch the sobbing voice of former Capt. of the 2nd Sui-Feng.

 _" …_ _Ichigo, I wouldn't I just wouldn't be able take if he were to, if he were to! Not a second time, for us it could have been just a few hours ago the whole debacle with the Kyuubi!"_

 _"_ _Shh, shh its Okay breath and calm yourself … you know I would trust Orihime with my own life; I would trust her with your, Kami forbid it, if it came to be. She'll heal him and give him back to us, our sochi."_

As the iron willed woman broke in front of them and sobbed and wept embracing her beloved; while the scowling master just embraced her with a loving gaze while cooing her and told her it would be alright. The one word that finished sending all of the present over the edge, was repeating itself in their heads.

 _"_ _SOCHI!? They had a son?!"_

While Urahara was the first to recover from the shock, it wasn't by a large margin, even he was stunned by this revelation. Glancing to the people with him it seemed more than one had actually "broken" with that piece of news. He carefully closed in to the couple followed by Youruichi and with a quick check they noticed the changes in their appearance. With a prove to their aura they were relieved; the feel of their reaitsu, the very core of their spiritual presence was the same. While it was minutely changed that which made them Kurosaki Ichigo and Sui-Feng was still there at the very deeps of their raging auras with concern and grief. Urahara for once neared Ichigo and in all seriousness put his hand on his shoulder.

"It's good to have you back Ichigo-kun" he said in all but a whisper. While Ichigo was faintly aware that his friends were arriving he simply had other priorities, so when Urahara patted him on the shoulder he was surprised mostly by the seriousness and heartfelt longing in his voice. He turned back as his beloved wife also took notice.

"Its good to be back Kisuke" responded Ichigo just as uncharacterized as Urahara with a emotion charged voice, he really was damn happy to see the Hat & Clogs idiot

"Good to see you Yoruichi-sama, you too Urahara-san" followed Sui-Feng with a faint smile as she let go of Ichigo and embraced her former teacher and lightly punched Urahara on the shoulder. Just like that; like ruptured dam they all came near and both wanted to hug and punch the Strawberry idiot. Unsurprisingly his sisters were the firsts that followed Urahara.

"ICHI-NII!"

"ICHI-NII!" Cried both Yuzu and Karin as they lunged at their beloved brother, who was completely caught off guard as he could clearly feel his sisters reiatsu but it didn't match up with the young women that were on top of him. He decided that he would catch up with whatever amount of time had passed later. He just was glad to see his sisters again and much too his amusement, he realized that as much things change they stay the same. Seeing the tearful face of Yuzu bawling herself out; and Karin trying her best to not let hers spill out and spectacularly failing to do so. He just stroked their heads like he used to do so when they were so young all those years ago. Just for a moment they were back at their old house, childs again being spoiled by their always protective big brother. Their beloved brother was again with them that's all that mattered now.

After a few moments they stood up and Ichigo could see all who had come and some new comers at the entrance of the barracks and they all were staring at the couple very intently. Couldn't help to sweatdrop as he sighted, this was gonna be a long talk. He squeezed his wife hand for support and she smiled lovingly to him; all that mattered was they were again with their people.

"I would suggest an emergency meeting but seeing all the interested parties are already here why we don't just set up some privacy kido in one of the barrack rooms. Capt. Isane?" suggested amicably Captain Commander Kyoraku Shunsui.

"O-Of course Captain" said the alluded as she conduced them to a fairly large room that they all could fit in. as they filled in Ichigo took notice of some things. Rukia was now a Captain as Renji, however Jushiro Ukitake was nowhere to be seen as with Mayuri-clown and Rose, Kensei, Yachiru and Retsu-san, Chad had a black motif garment with a similar badge to his Soul Pass but otherwise he wore casual clothes and Ichida still wore his Quincy attire but also with the Soul Pass badge. Much to his surprise he didn't saw his old man. Ichigo sighted again, too many changes to his liking.

"I'll go explain you stay Sui-chan" said Ichigo knowing she wouldn't be able to get far away fearing anything might happen and she were not there

"Well you better get comfy this will be a long story, so save the questions for the latter" said Ichigo. So he begun telling them all he could remember; from their last resort attack (not telling yetJ) to suddenly reincarnating in another world without their past life memories. How they grew up in a world filled with Shinobi, who were they and how they fell in love, up to the tragic night of the October 10th, then waking up groggily from that strange resurrection jutsu to how they got back to SS. The whole story took about 2 to 3 hours, surprisingly even Kenpachi was silent for most of the telling and while at first he was bored out of his mind. Surprisingly at the first mentions that their son was right now at Orihime's care in emergency treatment he shut up and actually listened to the whole thing. Dare Ichigo hope that THE kenpachi had a soft spot for children? Food for thought, huh.

"That's all I guess, I still haven't asked Sui-chan what happened on her end; though I had my mind elsewhere at the time"

"That's understandable Ichigo-kun, now I think that's enough for the moment if it's not too much Ichigo I'd like to have a formal meeting tomorrow after breakfast so we can discuss what to do next in more detail. I believe you should go see your boy and your friends have a lot to catch up" replied Kyoraku with a smile as he adjusted his straw hat and eyed Ichigo's friends"

"Thanks Kyoraku-san" nodded Ichigo. The captains filled out and he was just gonna tell his friends to join him with Sui-Feng when he was blindsided by dropkick courtesy of a petite ravenette in captain haori

"What the hell, shrimp!" yelled Ichigo and got up ready to strike back when said girl hugged him stopping him in his tracks and soft sobs could be heard.

"Baka! Why do you always try to have the weight of world on your shoulders" she said between sobs

"I agree Kurosaki; be more selfish damn it, kami knows you've more than earn it" responded Uryu softly despite his impassive face while he adjusted his glasses.

"I'm glad you're back Ichigo" was all that the gentle giant known as chad said while he patted his shoulder. Ichigo stared at them for a moment and smiled he just nodded and silently thanked for the chance of seeing them again.

"I'm back everyone"

"And it better stay way strawberry! Come on lets meet your boy you bastard" said Renji in his captain haori.

"Come on Ichi-nii I want to meet my new nephew!" said Yuzu while tugging him to follow. Karin on her part just froze on her place with a bewildered expression when she heard her.

"What's the matter Karin" asked Rukia

"Well damn, it just hit me that I'm now officially an aunt" Ichigo snickered while she scowled at him

"Don't let it get to you, as long you don't pull some of Goat-chin antics you'll do just fine" they all laughed at that, while Karin went livid as she had a flash of her doing a " _good morning"_ stunt. She growled and tried to _"unthink"_ it, but she wasn't making good progress.

* * *

Tayuya was for the lack of a better wording, fucking scared shitless right now. For all her usual bravado that scared off most wimps in sound and kept at bay her other companions; right now she couldn't muster any of it. Starting with the invasion fiasco because of the strawberry monster, seriously those black waves of energy were like staring onto death itself or worse. There was a tinge of primal hunger in them and they freaking ATE or something like that, chakra like it was candy, WTF! The sound four barrier didn't last more than five secs. When the wave passed over her; somehow, again she felt like death walking over her. Then the monster blasted the whole thing apart and before she could register lord Orochimaru being heavily wounded, she was pinned to a wall by a freaking over-sized sword of all things. One would think that things couldn't get worse when she realized she was surrounded by Konoha Jounin, dupidity dah, she was proven wrong. The freaking walking death said he was taking her, oh joy. She tried to give "hell" so to speak, that went so not great.

Then came the most nerve wracking minutes, hours, days maybe even years; she couldn't be damned sure how much time they spent in that dark corridor. She felt minuscule, worthless, like a speck of dust on the butt of world smallest ameba before the black walls of void that surrounded them. She just couldn't describe them with another word, they felt like nothing literally. An all encompassing void pulled on to her; as if inviting her to join it and become nothing with it. She shivered at the memory; however the cherry on top of it all was the moment they came out of the void corridor. She was floored and her very soul wanted to leave her body as they came out. The two monster aura crashed onto her as if just now their auras had nowhere to go; maybe the void actually fed from the living or some shit like that. The air felt heavy and she could barley breath as she was slammed to the floor. She was taken to some sort of medical ward with the Uchiha prissy and the sand boy, the fools tried to make trouble and were quickly put to sleep. Then the monster aura resided, for a second she was relieved, the next she was scared out of her life; again!

While she never was at the level of the Karin brat, she was also an Uzumaki, even if she made sure the lord didn't find out. She was thankful to him but she wasn't stupid, she went through hell with the curse seal in those cells of his. That was without the lord knowing of her lineage; it was a matter of fact she would be strapped to the operating table should he discover that. Thankfully her hair went from red to pink with her transformation. So even if secretly, she was a damned Uzumaki and she sure as hell had some sensor capabilities. So when the monstrous auras banished she was suddenly surrounded by countless auras; some big, others small, some calm, others wild and even some felt like the elements. However all auras, without fail had a tint that scared her and made the final chip in her false bravado armor; they all felt like death. So here she was the great guardian of the sound four all curled up shivering in a corner; trying her best to make herself as small as possible and not draw attention upon herself, silently crying while she was literally surrounded by death. Then she was touched gently by some warm aura.

"Hey easy there, we aren't going to hurt you" and she felt a strong hand gently pat her head. She looked up with tear filled eyes and her breathing hitched, the monster death was in front of her

"Why are you crying girl?" asked another walking death with red hair and weird tattoos on his forehead. She wanted to lash out on the girl comment but held herself.

"Baka!" yelled another one as she hit the red haired one on the side "she's technically a war prisoner! Of course she'd be scared"

"It's not that, isn't it?" said sagely the orange haired death and she nodded after a moment's pause "Then?" he asked, she hesitated a moment

"I'm surrounded... By death, you all are death walking in people disguise" Tayuya responded very softly still scared. The group of seven looked stunned for a second then realization hit them, they were spirits and shinigami to top it all, sans Uryuu.

"Well fuck, she not that far off really" said Renji and Tayuya whimpered much to her chagrin. Said idiot got slugged by the petite one from the group.

"Hey it's okay, you are a prisoner but we won't hurt you or torture you I promise you that, I won't let anyone do so" Ichigo told her reassuringly while still petting her hair very gently. Tayuya couldn't help feel safe and couldn't remember a time she felt this calm, somehow she believed him. She just nodded and enjoyed the lukewarm feeling that radiated from his hand and actually pushed her head against his hand unconsciously trying to get more attention.

"Heh, not like anyone would dare trying get past you with that scowl of yours Ichi-nii" said Karin. Ichigo scowled again but said nothing.

"I'm sorry for earlier, but I was very concerned with my son's life. Like I said, don't worry we aren't bad people and most of the time they too aren't that bad, we won't hurt you" he said with a small smile while pointing his finger at the shinigami in general at the jab. However Tayuya's focus was on Ichigo as he strokes her cheek and whipped her tears away. She nodded numbly, her fears somewhat subdued. Really she felt pathetic but well she really, really was way over her head here, they even confirmed her claims indirectly so getting a reassurance for her safety even if just verbally was a kami-send.

 _"_ _Wait, did he say son? Oh shit! If the brat dies I'm frikin' death… uhh I guess, whatever, brat better make it"_ she panicked again as she realized she had, if indirect, endangered the life of her only protector's son. She was about to go into another crisis when she felt enveloped by a warm sensation. Then she took notice that it was coming from the orange haired man he looked at her and gave her a reassuring smile, as if saying that everything would be alright. His aura slowly wafted around her calming her down. She idly wondered why he was so trusting with her since like the ravenette rightly put, she was a war prisoner and more than likely involved in some way to the harm on his son.

"Ano… what's your name?" tayuya asked coyly Ichigo chuckled a little but answered

"Ichigo, substitute shinigami, right now there are some issues regarding my surname but you can call me Ichigo"

"I know I'm not entitled to… but… can I remain under your watch, Ichigo… -sama?" everyone just stared at her and then to Ichigo.

"Che… still going at it I see Strawberry" snickered Renji

"Seems not even reincarnation could curb that down, Kurosaki-san" commented Ishida offhandedly.

"Oy, shut it!"

 _"_ _Strawberry?"_ Ichigo sighted heavily, in a way the idiot Renji and Uryuu were right.

"As long as you behave, I guess I can give you that peace of mind. Are you hurt anywhere, can you move around?" he answered her while pinching his nose. She nodded fervently and stood up positioning herself at his side and behind him in deference like she used to do with her lord; or past-lord really. It was kind of a big gamble but she seriously felt she was safer here; being a prisoner and all; than in sound really. Ichigo on his part really wanted to object but decided against it for now, his Minato side really curbed down most of his outbursts. They headed to her wife reiatsu signature. She looked up to them before they arrived and smiled when she saw all of Ichigo's close friends and sisters but arched an eyebrow when she noticed the girl walking behind his husband in obvious submission. Just a s she was about to voice her annoyance at the pink-haired prisoner, loving looks on her man she got a good reading on her reiatsu.

"Uzumaki, huh? Look like second or maybe third generation" she said when they were near her. The girl stiffened at the comment and Sui-Feng realized that she probably was trying to hide that fact, good move actually. "Easy there girl, I'm also an Uzumaki; kinda" Sui-Feng told her with half a smirk.

She looked at her curiously as the red death (how fitting ;9) closed in on Ichigo…-sama. It became obvious to her that they were together as she leaned in and kissed him lovingly once then one more time more chastely. She leaned on him and rested her head on his chest.

"So did you tell them all?"

"Yeah, an abridged version of sorts, still took quite some time" answered Ichigo

"I'd imagine so; still so much has happened that it's hard to wrap my mind around it" said Sui-Feng

"Even beyond the afterlife the idiot pulls out one off his ass" quipped Renji

"Oy!"

"You know I believe the new generation has taken to call it off, when someone does something like that" added the just arriving Yoruichi with a light smirk.

"Yeah they call it, to pull off a Kurosaki" complemented Karin

"Great" complained Ichigo "Now my _peculiar_ luck it's a _thing_ to be call off" he complained as a scowl made its way, like always. Tayuya on his part remained silent but attentive to the whole exchange somewhat entranced by the easy going atmosphere despite the obvious jabs. Unlike very much so from the Sound Four where even if said jabs weren't followed by a fight, mostly, they were part of a statement of strength. At that moment the door to the operation room opened and Inoue stepped out. As she eyed the group before her she was hit with a wave of nostalgia and teared up slightly. This was not missed by all the group who just smiled and again relished the extraordinary second chance they were given.

"Inoue, how…" begun Ichigo a little afraid to finish the obvious question.

"Stable, we had some difficulty but the worst has passed over already and he's sleeping right now. I need to tell you that the reason we had so much difficulty treating him was a combination of chronic malnutrition, badly healed injuries, and very severe signs of child abuse" she said in a serious tone. The group was stunned not quite registering the implications of that but the two parents rapidly made some quick deductions. Rage surged from both of them and their reiatsus threatened to leak again, still they managed to rein them in, ever so slightly. Tayuya had a shiver ran up her spine.

"Inoue tell us what you found" all but growled Ichigo in a tone that broke no argument, but had eyes as cold as Ice

"But you need to…"

"All. Of. It." cut in Sui-Feng with simmering rage as her blood red hair waved a little in _tail-like_ fashion and her expression heavily darkened. A loud gulping sound was heard from all and no one in particular.

* * *

Bit by bit he began to regain consciousness, slowly but surely. At first it felt like trying to walk on mud, every step he took was hampered by a resistance that dragged him back onto the darkness. A sweet whisper told him to stop, to rest and dream. He was so tempted to do it; to just stop, so tempted, alas he kept going despite the voice. He had a nagging in the back of his head that kept pushing him to walk to wake up, why would he need to wake up being awake? Somehow he knew he had to keep walking to get to wherever he was going. He was expected to return, not sure why though.

He kept going forward and eventually the mud began to recede and thin out; now it was more of a watery resistance. His mind cleared up as the resistance lessened. Images flashed before him to fast to see them in detail but he made out a duck butt haired prick; just thinking about it made him go back just to piss him off. Another flash and the idea of a screaming pink came up; as weird as that sounds. Why does he want her attention; it's a she right? Well better than not having attention at all; he counter argued himself. Not wanting to be in front someone and not exist despite of this.

Suddenly a pair of violet eye appeared front of him and bore him with their piercing gaze unwilling to see anything but him. he was the sole focus of them like anything else was unworthy of their attention. He stared at the beautiful eyes and wished they could be there for all eternity watching him; without contempt, hate, derision, or simply outright denial of his existence.

Almost immediately after the brief eternity, in his mind, that the eyes appeared before him. he felt surrounded by a overwhelming presence. It felt like being crushed by an entire ocean, yet the ocean enveloped him and warmed him. He was pulled softly deeper in to it like it wanted to guard him and keep him safe, he sure felt like it. there was kindness beside the warm feeling and strong protectiveness, as he was pulled deeper he felt something dark and a slight edge of cold. Trying to gaze at it he thought that it was like a predator coiled up ready to pounce on his prey. He was nervous for a second but then noticed that the darkness just gazed at him, scanned him of sorts and stood "guard" of sorts around him.

Little by little he stirred up and light entered his vision. An un familiar ceiling greeted him, but a very familiar scent did make it's appearance. Heavy anesthetics and alcohol wafted through his nose. He groaned and tried to stand up, or at least right himself up. He hoped a nurse wasn't present so he could get out of their backs before they tried something. He began to look for a way out, but unfortanely a nurse, he guessed, entered in a weird black get up.

"easy there little one, just rest for now" she said with a true smile

"WHa.." was all he could muster as the girl in orange hair smiled at him with true care and compassion without any form of deceit. He always prided himself in noticing the false smiles on the people. He should know he had wore a false smile so long he wasn't sure anymore his own wasn't. Yes he had never been very keen in academics; he kinda does better in hands on learning. But seeing through that kind of deceit was always easy for him and this girl wore the kindest smile and selfless he had seen directed at him.

"You had people worried sick for you young man. You better take care of your health better now, they were worried to death for you" she said gesturing to a couple sleeping in the chairs beside the bed. The man had orange hair with the tips yellowing out and the woman; she was the woman when he was battling the sand raccoon! Both were very much asleep and had bags under their eyes, the woman seemed very close to the man as she was leaned on his shoulder. He despite being asleep was straight up against the wall with his arms crossed and steady despite someone resting against him. He was like a tower, stalwart and steady.

"You are to remain here and not overexert yourself, Am I clear!" she said raising her voice very slightly in a tome that broke no argument as she looked Naruto in the eye. He could only nod hurriedly and gulp.

"H...a… ha..i!" just then a rufle of clothes was heard beside him and he was met with electric blue eyes much like his own and a very comfortable wave of warm; and a pair of the most intense a beautiful violet eyes that seemed to focus on him and only him. The couple smiled softly at him and with an incredible amount of emotion the first word they uttered was heavy with care, kindness, a bit possessive and most importantly… love. It was so ridiculous that it was directed at him and he shivered.

"Naruto…

… my sochi"

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 **And thats a wrap up people sorry for the ubber late updates I'm nearing vacations so i'll be able to update soon.**

 **I'm really glad for the possitive response to the story, at fisrt it was most of a drabble but it began to grown on me and decided to post it to see how people liked it, again thank you very much for the support**

 **now right now i'm in a conundorum i'm split wether to keep naruto from the "yondaime explanation" and leave it for latter or make Ichigo and Sui-Feng come clean with it. I got a rough story line for both situations really but can't seem to lean on one of them, care share your opinion? i'll be checking the reviews or you can PM if you like**

Fr05tyNu993t **: really glad you like it, here's a chomp there'll be more for sure**

 **In a few more days i'll update my other stories, so those that are following my other works be ready ;9**

 **Thx for the support, as always hope you like it**


	3. Chapter 3 So you were, or you are?

Beyond the afterlife

"normal talk"

 _"_ _normal thoughts"_

 **"** **bijuu/super natural talk"**

 ** _"_** ** _demon/super natural thoughts"_**

I don't own anything, except O.C.

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 **So i have been told that my previous asumption that cirgury in SS was rudimentary was wrong, sorry i apoligize it has been a while since i read the past volumes i honestly forgot, so thank you very much for pointing it out. so i'll make the nesesary adjustments**

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"wai… wha… that's not possible, is… it" finished Naruto with unbelieving hope, it couldn't be possible. His mind was reeling back and forth but before he could make a coherent thought he embraced by both of them in a hug that blown him away.

"Forgive us Naruto, please forgive your foolish parents" said the man with a very emotional voice

"Oh sochi, please forgive us but please believe that we never intended nor wanted to leave you, to put on you such a heavy burden" the woman sobbed. Naruto wasn't really sure of what to do could he actually believe this people, if he did should he actually forgive them for leaving him alone. Yet he couldn't help to melt in the embrace of both of them this kind of embrace, this warm that slowly spread, he had never felt anything like this. Was this how a parent love felt like? To feel completely and utterly safe without a care in the world just by the presence of two people. He didn't care anymore even if they were lying; this warmness was too tempting to refuse. So just broke and cried.

"Are you really… my parents… _hic sob_ … truly?" he croaked with his face buried still on them.

"Hai…"

"Hai…" they both softly as they tightened their embrace

Naruto just broke and bawled his eyes out as he cried wordlessly and they just let him vent it all out. At some point Inoue had left the room and leave the reunited family alone. After what it seemed an eternity he sat upright and looked at his _parents_ the word felt foreign to him, but, it felt nice.

"Why… why did you leave me? Where were you?" they both stiffened and Naruto saw them cast their eyes downwards in deep sorrow and inhale deeply.

"There was an incident, you may know of it as it was the day the Nine Tails attacked" said his mother

"We died that day son, we died the same day you were born" said his father with a grim look

"wha-" Ichigo sighted and continued

"I know how difficult this is to believe, so please let us finish all we have to tell you. I beg of you my son that you believe us that everything we'll say to you is true; but if you don't I won't blame you just remember that we'll always and always have loved you" his mother nodded with fierce determination. Naruto remained in silence but nodded and Ichigo continued.

"We are your parents; but as who we are, that is a little more complex. Sui-chan could you explain the cycle?"

"Yes, sochi THERE is an afterlife as reincarnation is also real" she said and paused letting Naruto absorb the revelation. Naruto on his part wanted nothing more to burst already with question, but held himself as per agreement. Sui-Feng saw this and had a small smile.

 _"_ _Just like an Uzumaki, huh"_

"When a person dies and their soul leaves the body four things can happen; either they move on their own to the afterlife, they remain tied to the world because of attachment to their life and are helped to pass on by the guardians of the afterlife, if the soul is stricken with grief or any type of strong negative emotion they'll become a corrupted spirit called hollow that feed on other souls and lastly back in the elemental nations souls can be absorbed onto nature and become energy" as she said this bit Ichigo mentally filed it away

"The guardians that I spoke have the duty to protect the living from the hollows and guide the souls to the afterlife. The living just calls us shinigami, but the truth is that we are his servants only. The souls that make to the afterlife may become guardians or eventually enter the rebirth cycle if they spend enough time or their spirit form is destroyed" she paused again and smiled at him. Naruto had dreading feeling all this talk of death and spirits was very ominous.

"Your father and I became were lovers in secret, then we died in battle without being able to have children and reincarnated as the people that after some years would be known as the red death habanero and the yellow flash of Konoha but most importantly we would become your parents; but even then we were denied our family" she said bitterly

"Wait! The yellow flash? But that was Konoha's…"

"Ahh..." confirmed Ichigo "I was formerly known as the Fourth Hokage of Konoha" he said as he patted tentabily naruto's head. Naruto wanted to scream to the heavens and rub it in to Sasuke's face he was son of the greatest Hokage ever! But he remained as best as he could silent he had given his word; sort of, to let them finish. Though both Ichigo and Sui-feng didn't miss his excitement. Then they gave naruto a retelling of what happened that night

(if you don't know just look it up on youtube, I'd assume that you're reading crossover cause you have some knowledge of both animes; watch?v=pIZCQUJ9AcM)

"You see Naruto, already so deep in that shi- mess we decided to trust you, we somehow knew that you'd be able to eventually get past the curse of the Jinchuurikis; I still belive so. As much as we would have wanted to spare you that suffering; as much as you would become powerful, as much as you'd fulfill our dreams of you being an extraordinary Shinobi, had we at the time could have done any other thing…"

"We would have in a heartbeat. There may have been other paths, but in that moment the only way we saw to ensure you survival was that…" finished Sui-feng

"I'm extremely disappointed in the village; they failed to even abide to the final wish of their so _beloved_ kage" spat Ichigo with a deep-er scowl and the air in the room seemed to tremble a bit.

"Then how are you here now?" naruto asked in confusion as the retelling ended in their deaths to the Kyuubi killing them. Ichigo and Sui-feng sighted again.

"Orochimaru used a forbidden technique, one that allowed him to bring back our dead bodies as mere puppets. However something happened, we're not sure exactly what though. I believe that the Spirit King; _the_ shinigami had something to do with it but its all speculation up until now" answered Sui-feng

"When he brought us back we happened to see your fight against the Ichibi and something stirred inside us and we awoke our previous life memories taking the form you see now" supplemented Ichigo. After some moments of silence something picked naruto's curiosity

"ne ne T… to…tou-san, Ka… kaa-san" he stuttered as the words were alien to him, this warmed the hearts of both of them and felt relieved. Just those words dispelled any misgivings and fears that they might have harbored up until now.

"yes?"

"yes?"

"who were you before you were my parents" he asked uncertain of how to make the question. Ichigo just chuckled and Sui-feng sighted amused.

"well sochi, that starts with your father being a brash idiot"

"Oy! Tch, well might as well begin. You see on my side of things it all began when I met certain midget…" and so Ichigo told his son the story of his life; literally. Sui-feng supplemented the specifics like the Gotei 13th and how they were organized, her position as a captain and a brief mention to her master and family. Naruto listened with rapture as his Tou-san told him of his constant need to protect his friends and loved ones; how he actually died two times already if you were technical about it. The tales of his battles with the _inner_ -hollow were terrifyingly similar to his situation as a Jinchuuriki. He was marveled and felt like giddy at the thought his parents were super strong; in both lives. The tales of Hueco Mundo disturbed him a bit after all it was supposed to be filled with bad spirits; yet the antics of Nel and her Brothers were hilarious. Finally though he never was one for sappy romances he was really curious of how his parents met, but they only said that they fell in love crossing a thin line from the seemingly hate they had for each other.

"come on dattebayo! What you mean you'll tell me when I'm older?" they just laughed

"okay, okay I'll tell you a little bit" said Sui-feng

"Yatta!"

"When the incident in which we lost our memories of Rukia-san and by extension Ichigo; he and I got closer to each other as I met him without the bitter experience of his past invasion and humiliation. During the fights he helped me as the possessed rukia was about to cut me down. In my mind at the time he was an enemy and despite that he had saved me when he could just let me die and have one less opponent. When our memories came back I was stumped for a while as both the experiences and feelings from that time remained, it was with the help of Yoruichi-sama that slowly I accepted those feelings and got closer to your dad" she said as she had a faraway look on her eyes and smiled at the memory. Ichigo closed in on her and embraced her. As he let her go he turned to naruto and his expression got serious

"now son, I want you to tell us everything about your life and don't try to downplay anything" he said with a stern voice

"the good and the bad sochi we want to know everything about you" she said as she grabbed his trembling hand

"Ha… hai… tou-san, ka-san" he managed to croak out after a few moments of silence he took a deep breath and began. After he finished both parents were glad that his life had improved a bit and that he had found precious people to him in the last years. Had it not, the barely contained rage in their beings would have exploded in a massive burst of reiatsu that most likely would have been felt even beyond the Rokungai districts. Of course naruto had tried to keep the worst from them, after all he didn't his new found parents getting mad. Being the lousy liar he was it was futile attempt and every single time Ichigo and Sui-feng pried the whole truth from him. After they had calmed themselves down Ichigo and Sui-feng simply embraced naruto in a wordless hug. He just hugged them back and felt the happiest person on earth. After what could have been hours his dad spoke up.

"Do you want meet you aunts and the rest of our dysfunctional family?"

"YES!" Ichigo just chuckled and stepped out for a bit, his Ka-san just stayed beside him in the bed playing with his hair. The door opened and two beautiful young women garbed in that black kimono entered; one had brown hair and an expression that could only be described as a _puppy_ face, the other had black hair and had semi-stoic face but upon seeing him her gaze softened and a small smile grazed her face.

"Naruto meet my sisters yuzu and…" he halted the presentations and Yuzu glomped his son in a tight hug and screeched of how cute his whiskers were.

"and Karin" he finished overly amused at her sister anthics

"yuzu remember he just had a cirgury" said Karin offhandedly

"Eep!" and she let go of Naruto still dazed by the sudden reaction

"I'm so sorry naruto-kun!" she said as she bowed and apologized fervently and more chuckles could be heard as more people entered. Naruto quickly took notice of them it was kinda hard not to. First was a petite woman with raven hair that walked with an air of nobility, yet she didn't seemed to be a stuck up ass like the Hyuuga's she looked amused by the apologizing ; after her was a lean man with pale skin and blue hair garbed in a white attire that screamed military, his expression was stern but not hostile; then came a redhead that had the same crazy pineapple ponytail that Shikamaru but also had the craziest tattoo he had seen from his forehead to the birth line of his hair, he was clearly amused also; the biggest one was a hulking guy with very tan skin and massive build than looked like it would rip out if his clothe any moment, he just eyed naruto ad gave an almost imperceptible nod.

"Don't worry… Yuzu-n..nee. I'm Uzumaki Naruto how are you O..Oo…Onee-chans!" seeing such a young women naruto couldn't really feel her as an aunt so he decided to call them his sisters.

"Cuuute!" screeched yuzu

"I'm starting to like you kid" said Karin.

"Well he certainly has different kinda flare than Ichi-boi here" said a black tanned woman as she entered followed by a blonde in some weird black & green getup and bucket hat that was sniggering at his Tou-san for whatever reason. Both he and his father where about to say something when the door opened again.

"Please keep it civil Naruto-kun is still recuperating" said the orangette nurse? From before, with steel in her voice. At this everyone flinched and muttered their agreements.

"Well I guess some introductions are in order. Naruto these are my friends and family from my first time; I guess, as Kurosaki Ichigo" he said in half a chuckle "I wonder if I'll have to change names, though" he asked himself idly. Ishida just scoffed

"Wouldn't make any difference Kurosaki at end you'll still be as annoying as ever" he said in a half veiled reassurance. They all snorted clearly getting the half-jab to him.

"Hey! Leave my Tou-san alone! Dattebayo!" shouted Naruto quickly trying to stand up and doing his best to look intimidating. He looked _cute_ by female standards; they all laughed and calmed him down. His mother though facepalmed.

"Shut up and rest kid, you'll throw baseless threats after that" said Renji. Almost on cue naruto started yawning and felt his eyes lid get heavy all of a sudden.

"Hehehe, go to sleep little maelstrom" said Ichigo , naruto wanted to stay awake he was scared that if he went to sleep I'd turn out to be just a dream after all and he would still be a parentless orphan with a lonely apartment. As much as he fought it his mother's cooing, softly lulled him into sleep but the warm from his parents presence never leaved his side. Soon enough he was softly snoring a bubble on his nose.

"I guess introduction will have wait a bit more, though I suppose it's better this way and take it slowly" said Sui-feng

"I believe so also, Sui-feng-san" the alluded just smirked

"Aww don't be shy I-chI-dA, I won't beat you to death with your own arm anymore; I think" teased Sui-feng channeling Kushina in her. Uryuu flinched from a distant memory when he saw what happened if one was foolish enough to mock Ichigo's nickname of the assassin specialist, alas that's a tale for another time. After the short session of teasing and laughs they all sat down.

"Now, please get us up to date" said Ichigo in his Hokage voice, which meant no bull shit. He eyed pointedly at Urahara. He was mildly surprise in the steel and commanding presence that Ichigo was exerting, letting out a soft sight he mentally agreed that enough was enough.

"Ichigo-kun" he said and waited a moment to see if he objected to the more familiar term, he didn't and actually seemed a little relieved "just as the living say, the more things change the more they stay the same. After your deaths and Y. Bacht defeat the factions were very disorderly and almost went onto another open war with all three of them severely weakened and wounded. The fact that the C46 were shouting for the extermination of both the Quincy and Arrancar didn't help. They actually tried to use Old Capt Commander's death as leverage" Ichigo growled softly in annoyance.

"That was precisely was their fatal mistake" complemented Yoruichi as she continued "Kyoraku who had just lost his father figure and his best friend actually lost it. He stormed the C46 and deposed all of the members, noble or not he labeled them traitors and possible conspirator. They all were thrown in the maggots nest and remain there. He gave an ultimatum to all the noble families either they complied with Gotei and fulfilled their obligations or he would dethrone them" Ichigo arched an eyebrow and smirked, sui-feng actually speechless by such an assertiveness from the lazy drunk, she also hoped her own house didn't got wiped out, seeing Gotei was still standing. "Of course more than half of the house tried to protest and threatened to cut their support to us"

"What did Shunsui-san do" asked Ichigo

"He was true to his word and under very specific conditions he unleashed Aizen on the _unruly_ houses. As it turns out Aizen was more than happy to oblige to that specific request and probably also in amusement to Kyoraku's rage"

"Unbelievable" whispered Sui-feng

"It sure was a sight to behold, not pleasant, but something to behold nonetheless" added Rukia

"The purge, as it has come to be named, was very thorough and very selective; corrupt heads and members, traffiquers and liaisons to crime lords, rich snubs or simply daddy's boys that abused their family authority they were first marked and then taken out. Members of families that were deemed innocent or ignorant were warned under no uncertain terms that they either abide and truly be _noble_ or be removed as a noble family. Most though, were corrupt beyond measure and whole families were rid off. The young ones from those were placed instantly in the Shin'ou Academy that had a renewed program. Some families were severely crippled and placed on a probation of sorts. A new C46 was established but its authority was limited to Civil matters and such; they can make inquiries of decisions made by the Sou-taicho but cannot overrule a mandate. Basically the civilian and merchant side is managed by the C46 and the military by the Captains and Capt Commander, but the C46 it's always below the military side. The reason made very simple, we are a military organization" followed Urahara

"Damn" said Ichigo, that actually was more than he dared hope to happen.

"Don't be so surprised Ichigo, most of this was inspired by your actions since your invasion to that day. Slowly with your continuous spirit to protect; made the Shinigamis remember what we stood for in the first place" said Rukia

"Ahh…" confirmed Renji

"Kyoraku actually plans to add and addendum where the civilian side can challenge a decision from the Capt. Commander with support of the captains, but will do so after the heat has dissipated enough" said Yoruichi

"And when would that be?" said Ichigo arching an eyebrow

"When we decide so, tatsuki-san included" interjected Ishida getting nods from Chad, Orihime, Renji and Rukia. Ichigo smiled at that.

"By the way you both might wanna met Kukaku-san, it seems the Shibas changed their name to **Kuroshiba** " Ichigo just facepalmed

"What about the Capt. replacements, what were our casualties?" asked Sui-feng deciding be direct in the matter

"We lost many unseated, let's leave it at that. Right now the number of shinigamis that were present when Ichigo invaded are less than a third of our total numbers" said Renji mournfully

"we lost Ukitake Taichou, as well as Rose and Kensei Taichous, Kira and Unohana Taichou; Komamura Taicho lost his shinigami power and regressed to a sort of wolf but retains all his intelligence a conscious, Capt Mayuri's disappeared but according to nemu-san he _completed_ her, several officers were heavily wounded and still recuperating their powers like Matsumoto for example" added Rukia

"Rukia took over Squad 13 and I over the 9th, Isane succeeded as Capt. of the 4th, the 2nd is being managed by Yoruichi-san's brother the 3rd was given to a new Capt. and Tetsuzaemon Iba took over the 7th after Komamura taichou"

"What happened to the arrancar?" asked Ichigo after a while the losses settled in him

"Nel, Grimjow and Harribel-san are D'facto leaders of Hueco Mundo. Stark-san was found shortly after the war, surprisingly his other half absorbed all the power and rebirthed or something she took the name and became a wanderer but promised to help should the need arise" Ichigo sniggered at the rarity of Ichida using vague words.

"The basic agreement we have is that anything above Gillian it's untouchable on Hueco Mundo unless attacked, below adjucha hollows are free game on the living world. In the world of the living adjuchas will be given one warning or opportunity to explain themselves and only if they aren't an express threat to the living. Only captains and designated mandataries are allowed to enter Hueco Mundo one such is Uryuu" answered Urahara

"As for the Quincys, Kyoraku-san allowed us to remain in the Shadow World as a capital of sorts and slowly repopulate the living world. On the condition to remain as allies and a sort of liason and foothold on the living world. A few years with Urahara's help we managed to adapt our techniques so the hollows souls would be dispersed and not destroyed, though their souls won't go to SS they'll either go to hueco mundo and become lower hollows as all the reshi will be dispersed or enter the Cycle directly. Ultimately depends on the alignment of the souls; so all remains mostly the same" supplied Ishida

"I'm really glad for you Ishida" smiled Ichigo

"As it turns out I also became a D'facto leader and thus I'm the representative for my race, this symbol in my uniform it's a sort of diplomatic badge. Anyway we quincys still retain our connection and are able to pass information between ourselves, but the parasitic aspect was foregone" Ichigo and Sui-feng realized why Kyoraku wanted the Quincys as footholds on the world of the Living.

"The treaties were shaky at best in the beginning, but again your influence ichigo was a key factor for all parties to behave and truly wish for peace. Now roughly 150 years later things are beginning to calm down for real. Though I'm afraid just what trouble you'll bring with you Ichigo" Yoruichi smirked as she teased her second pupil.

"Really funny, well if I'm lucky the only trouble will be me raining on the bastards councilmen and civilians of Konoha" growled Ichigo. A pissed off groan was heard from Chad, which told all present how he really felt about the whole issue of ichigo's son bad childhood

"You'll have to tell us more Ichigo scared people can be real bastards" renji growled

"I know, matter of fact I was thinking to ask the 12th for some help on that but I don't know if it'll be possible"

"Oh? And what would that be strawberry?" teased rukia

"shut up" he looked at Urahara "memory viewing" he stated plainly

"I'll see what I can do, but do ask Nemu-san for some input" said Urahara as he adjusted his hat with a Cheshire smirk plastered on his face.

"I swear to kami Urahara, if you make my sochi suffer with one of your crazy contraptions not even Yoruichi-sama will be able to save you" snapped Sui-feng

"I'm offended little bee, what makes you think I won't join the man hunt if the idiot dares harm the little maelstrom" she said as Urahara started to sweat profusely and she occupied herself caressing naruto's cheek and rubbing one of his whisker marks. Suddenly naruto started purring softly while sleep.

"No way!" almost shouted Rukia as she also reached over to naruto

"that's hila…" Renji's scream was cut short as a kunai embedded itself where his head was a second ago

"hey what the… where you get that?!"

"… I'm… not sure actually" said slightly confused Ichigo and just shrugged it off (AN: my bad couldn't resist it) his attention shifted again on his son all the girls were having a field day by making him purr out in his sleep. He chuckled and had the stray thought that only Nel and tatsuki were missing to have a full house on his son's whiskers.

"be as it may be know Ichigo-kun, Sui-feng-san that we're here for you" said Urahara with an honest smile

"ahh… thanks everybody"

"Thank you" replied both husband and wife and received silent nods and smiles.

As morning came naruto stirred slowly and began to awake. Suddenly he bolted up scared out of his mind with a slight sheen of sweat on his brow. He began to look around in a frantic matter looking for something; looking for someone. When his eyes landed on the figure of his mother beside him on the bed and his Tou-san sleeping, amazingly, comfortably in the chair beside the bed he calmed down a bit.

"It wasn't a dream" he breathed out "thank kami" he said on the verge of tears and wiped them out fervently. Unknown to him both his parents awoke he bolted up but decided to feign still being asleep. After a while they _awoke_ and greeted naruto and he actually felt flustered with the morning kiss from his Kaa-chan and the petting from his Tou-san. After a while they were cleared from the 4th and went to the main hall to have some breakfast. Sui-feng commented that she seldom came here, but there was always breakfast available for Captains and vice-captains. They also had to awoke the two interlopers and man had that been a drag.

Inside the mess hall the blonde kid was making quite the commotion, but unlike other occasions this time he actually didn't do a thing. All the females in the room were cooing and wanting to grab a piece, of sorts, of the cute little blonde. Ichigo was highly amused and Sui-feng enjoyed very much being finally to feel like a mother. Naruto on his part was bewildered from all the attention, good attention. One part of his mind told him that I would only last as long as they didn't knew of his _burden_ , though he would lie if he said that I felt good not having all those piercing stares expecting him to land badly and break his neck or something. Looking around naruto noted that there wasn't any ramen, he frowned and decided to ask.

"Ne ne, Kaa-chan why there isn't any ramen?"

"Why would you want ramen for breakfast sochi?" asked Sui-feng with guarded worry

"Well isn't it normal, besides ramen it's the food of the gods!"

"Really now? And who might you be mister to put words on our mouths" she joked with him as he started sputtering an apology, however Ichigo and some few caught on. Ichigo squeezed lightly his wife's hand in reassurance. One of those that heard it all approached, he being the ever stoic Capt. of squad 6.

"Kurosaki-san Sui-feng-san, I'm glad to meet you again" he said in a uncharacteristic casual tone. Sui-feng finished serving naruto a _normal_ breakfast and smiled at the Kuchiki head. Much to her amusement he actually was slightly taken aback at seeing her smiling and NOT smirking.

"it's nice to meet familiar faces Byakuya-dono" answered Sui-feng in cordial manner

"it truly is Byakuya" followed Ichigo with heartfelt words. Said Kuchiki sighted

"Byakuya or Byakuya-san it's ok Sui-feng-san I don't see the issue if your husband already call me on first name basis" he said in veiled amusement. Ichigo chuckled but said no more.

"Thank you, Byakuya… if you feel like it, please feel free to do the same" he only nodded

"If… if I may, Am I correct to assume that the boy has been _unsupervised_ for a long time" he asked while naruto was busy eating with gusto.

"Yes he was unfortunely and the one supposed to take care of him weren't there or blatantly ignored a dying father wishes" almost growled Ichigo and noble frowned

"I see, then I would like to offer my clan assistance in any matter that you might need help, as well as to offer accommodations for yourselves and your guests"

"Thank you Byakuya, I really appreciate this"

"Yes it would be most welcomed, as I yet need time to visit my family estate if it is they didn't get wiped out on Kyoraku-san's purge"

"Worry not; they were of the few families to immediately abide though a few heads and elders were deposed since they were members of the C46"

"Good, it's a shame that my father couldn't reform but…"

"It's ok Sui-chan" said her husband reassuringly.

"Kurosaki-san… er –sans, good to see both of you" greeted a teen version of Hitsugaya, at least a teen version from the couple point of view. Hitsugaya noticed the looks they gave him and almost chuckled.

"After effect of a trump card of sorts from my bankai"

"heh, a shame it would have been hilarious to see little maelstrom ask was there a kid as a Capt." Toshiro's eye twitched ever so slightly

"Puahh! Haven't eaten that good in years!" The white haired Captain arched an eyebrow and saw the clenching on the reincarnated father's jaw as well the hardening on his wife's eyes

"Now now sochi be polite say your thanks"

"hai! Sorry hehe, thank very much for the food!" while looking at the two newcomers

"we were not the ones to make it young one but the thanks are appreciated nonetheless" responded Byakuya

"I'm informed that your guests were allowed to enter the main hall, the Capt. Commander sent an escort and are already here" said Hitsugaya

"Sasuke and Gaara! Man I was so happy I actually forgot about them"

"Don't worry Naruto its understandable" said his father

"Well I guess it's time meet your friends sochi and afterwards we'll have to attend the Capt. meeting so lets not waste any moment" the two captains seated in nearby mats and stayed curious at the idea of meeting a few more of these _shinobi_ , if they were being honest.

"Look duck butt! I'm an Uzumaki, maybe not main branch, but uzumaki nonetheless I can feel the auras and theirs…" she said gesturing the shinigamis in general as they waited outside the mess hall "dwarf ours by far and some of them, like Ichigo-sama's are greater than that of the Snake cunt!" she said in a sneer at her past master "so forget off your freaking delusions of grandeur if they wanted we would be dead meat, cause you know perfectly that WE are no match for someone of sanin level" Sasuke bristled at the red head dismissal and insult, but calmed down as their supposed guard looked at the group and slight pressure fell on them as if to emphasize her point. Much to the Uchihas chagrin she was right they were over their heads; surprisingly enough the psycho from the sand had been very quiet and had only asked if naruto was fine and if they would be returned. For an instant he looked like he was going to say something else but the _supposed_ father of naruto leaned in and whispered something to his ear. His eyes widened and looked dumbstruck then started to rub his ears in a disbelieving way.

Although the claims of the redhead that those two from before were naruto's parents were doubtful a small part of the Uchiha wished it was true for naruto's sake. However his musings were interrupted when the doors of the mess hall opened and they were ushered inside by some attendees. It was then that it hit, even without being an Uzumaki the overbearing pressure could be felt inside the hall. It was no surprise even if the Uchiha didn't know it but gathered in that room were some of the most powerful individuals of the SS, even if they reigned in their reiatsu some would leak unconsciously. They neared the table were naruto was with his parents and saw to more accompanying them a tall raven haired man with a stoic gait and a white haired teen with impassive expression.

Up until then and ever since that night Sasuke Uchiha's idea of power was very simple. If you have it you use it, you do what you must and the weak must defer to you. That has the way it has always been and has been since he can remember, since that night, and maybe even before. That thought was challenged just now as the four warriors gazed at him and sized him up. The power could almost be touched in the air and it actually felt denser. Desperately, like always, a look of indifference was used to mask the nervousness being felt. To no avail, as in the moment their eyes met, it felt like being striped bare of everything as they picked apart every single detail that made up Sasuke Uchiha. But the thing that shook the Uchiha scion so badly was actually that their power despite it being painfully obvious to be in another league completely; wasn't flaunted a bit. Cero. Zip. Nada. It was there simply they didn't exert any kind intimidatory presence or superiority. For a second it occurred to that perhaps they foolishly were afraid to show it, but a look in their eyes told differently. They weren't afraid their eyes held a firm conviction of sorts; it was hard to explain but like some sort of silent resolution. They were strong, not just powerful, and didn't felt they needed to show it. Despite that people around them seemed to recognize their strength. A quick look confirmed the teen that the Jinchuuriki from the sand could also sense that these people were not to be messed with. Quite the shocker if one considers his recent tendencies.

"Come on tem- ouch!" Naruto was interrupted from his usual insults by a pull on his ear from his mother

"Manners sochi, I will not allow you to be so rude all the time anymore kami knows it's bad enough you got my verbal ticks" Sui-feng scolded

"But Kaa-chan he's the teme and always has been, datteba… ite-te-te-te!" again he was pulled from the ear by his mother

"No and that's final" the two captains couldn't help but smile warmly at the scene.

"Sit down and have some food both of you, we are well aware of who you both are and won't mind it as long you behave yourselves" said Ichigo seemingly ignoring the little drama of the mother and son.

"Are you… his parents?" asked gaara in a low voice

"ahh…" he confirmed

"Are you part of his precious people?"

"He has always been our precious one and now we finally have the opportunity to be his" he said instantly with fierce conviction that shocked both teen shinobis.

"Kurosaki-sama…" said Tayuya unsure of what to do, despite the lack of formality she had pledged herself to Kurosaki Ichigo-sama however she hadn't the slightest idea of how to serve.

"It's ok tayuya-chan come sit beside me and Sui-chan and eat"

"I… I'm… I'm not worthy" she stuttered both captain looked pointedly to Ichigo and arched an eyebrow but knowing his historial they assumed he pulled off another one. Seeing this he just sighted heavily.

"Don't mind it Tayuya-chan I'm not one for honorifics, now please sit I can't bear the thought of you standing there as we eat"

"If… if you sa… say so Kurosaki-sama" Ichigo on his part wanted to facepalm but guessed the most he would get out of the girl would be a _Ichigo-dono_ or _–sama_.

"What's going to happen to us, it's very clear you're no part of Konoha and I get the distinct feeling were no longer on the elemental nations" said Sasuke as impassibly as possible finally after getting some food in the stomach

"Oy Tem- er Sasuke! Stop trying to act all cool!" his father just grinned and flicked his forehead and honest to kami, smoke rised from the strength of it.

"What did your mother told you, behave" naruto just pouted as he rubbed his forehead.

"You will not be harmed in any way, if that's what you're worried about. Both of you will be returned to your villages separately if need be" said Hitsugaya with a wise voice betraying his young appearance taking a sip of tea.

"the young naruto situation is an another matter altogether" Sasuke tried to ask more but was silenced with a fortieth glare to the half revelation of the poised raven haired man

"Naruto-san as son of Ichigo-san and Capt… Sui-feng-san, has birthright to a great deal of many things here as well as people that wish to care a support him" cut off the white haired taicho with a pointed look and tone to Sasuke that implied they knew a great deal the blonde's situation.

"Which I believe is due in 20 minutes, so we must leave now" said Byakuya as he finished his tea.

"you can with up until the main doors and wait for the meeting to be over, or wait here for the duration of it; you'll all be attended. As long you behave that is" said Hitsugaya as he pulsed his reiatsu at the three shinobi. He was followed by Ichigo and Sui-feng who also directed some of it to their son; albeit more subdued to him.

"Is that understood my sochi?"She said

"h… hai Kaa-chan" Naruto managed to say a little unnerved by the sudden pressure upon him, it reminded him a little of the mission of wave; though it was less threatening more like a warning. After a few moments he decided that if they were his parents it made sense, yes it was right they were being parents. The thought made him feel giddy inside it was nice; yes he liked it even if waiting was annoying. He nodded to himself in acceptance to this. Ichigo and Sui-feng watched in silence their son's ministrations amused by it, also feeling warm inside by the chance they had been awarded.

"Don't worry son it'll only be for a little bit, then we can go touring through SS. Come we'll introduce you and then you'll wait a bit outside" said Ichigo and naruto's eyes widened in delight.

"Hai! Otou-san!" he said nearly shouting. Sasuke eyed him curiously, it had been a long while seen Naruto had smiled so truthfully. Years actually if memory served, it was refreshing actually; after all those fake smiles at the academy. With that the four adults stood up and went the opposite way they all entered. Suddenly Naruto's _father_ leaned in to Gaara and seemed to whisper something to him and he had a very visible shiver ran up his spine. The he pulled back and winked at the sand shinobi. Said shinobi just standed there raised his hands to his ears and just said in a low whisper that his mother was silent. He looked again at the retrieving back of the orange haired man.

Tayuya looked at the four warriors but focused on the couple. She could only think in the raw power she felt from them, yet warmth and kindness oozed out from them. Yeah, she truly had made the right choice as soon as she could she would ask formally to pledge herself to them.

* * *

 **Hope you like it, i know it doesn't have real action but i don't want to write a story where in the first chapters all plot is revealed and you just have to assume what were the reactions or of the characters since the story simply jumps straight to asskicking. so i needed to sort of set off a background and have the characters have their reunions (lol call me romantic) still have a few plot twists that i hope will make the story more interesting.**

 **again thx for the support**


	4. Chapter 4 Laying fundations

Beyond the afterlife

"normal talk"

 _"_ _normal thoughts"_

 **"** **bijuu/super natural talk"**

 ** _"_** ** _demon/super natural thoughts"_**

I don't own anything, except O.C.

 _ **previously...**_

 _ **"You can with up until the main doors and wait for the meeting to be over, or wait here for the duration of it; you'll all be attended. As long you behave that is" said Hitsugaya as he pulsed his reiatsu at the three shinobi. He was followed by Ichigo and Sui-feng who also directed some of it to their son; albeit more subdued to him.**_

 _ **"Is that understood my sochi?"She said**_

 _ **"h… hai Kaa-chan" Naruto managed to say a little unnerved by the sudden pressure upon him, it reminded him a little of the mission of wave; though it was less threatening more like a warning. After a few moments he decided that if they were his parents it made sense, yes it was right they were being parents. The thought made him feel giddy inside it was nice; yes he liked it even if waiting was annoying. He nodded to himself in acceptance to this. Ichigo and Sui-feng watched in silence their son's ministrations amused by it, also feeling warm inside by the chance they had been awarded.**_

 _ **"Don't worry son it'll only be for a little bit, then we can go touring through SS. Come we'll introduce you and then you'll wait a bit outside" said Ichigo and naruto's eyes widened in delight.**_

 _ **"Hai! Otou-san!" he said nearly shouting. Sasuke eyed him curiously, it had been a long while seen Naruto had smiled so truthfully. Years actually if memory served, it was refreshing actually; after all those fake smiles at the academy. With that the four adults stood up and went the opposite way they all entered. Suddenly Naruto's father leaned in to Gaara and seemed to whisper something to him and he had a very visible shiver ran up his spine. The he pulled back and winked at the sand shinobi. Said shinobi just standed there raised his hands to his ears and just said in a low whisper that his mother was silent. He looked again at the retrieving back of the orange haired man.**_

 _ **Tayuya looked at the four warriors but focused on the couple. She could only think in the raw power she felt from them, yet warmth and kindness oozed out from them. Yeah, she truly had made the right choice as soon as she could she would ask formally to pledge herself to them.**_

* * *

The four shinigami arrived at the massive door of the meeting hall from the 1st waiting for those that had yet to arrive and greeting those that were already there. Ichigo was suddenly slapped hard on the back by a strong hand. When he turned around he saw both his friend Renji and the Capt. of the 7th tetsuzaemon Iba; in all his glory with his weird glasses that reminded Ichigo of some anime he saw sometime.

"Kurosaki Ichigo-dono I'm really glad to see you again! You truly are an epitome of manliness and what men should aspire to become! So much that you pulled off another yet again!" Ichigo growled in annoyance but interrupted himself when he heard a sort of disrupted wheezing; almost like a laugh. He looked down to the source and found a light brown wolf sitting by the side of Iba. The wolf looked at him and dipped its head respectfully.

"It's good to see you gain Komamura-san, you too Iba-san" said Ichigo after a few seconds in a friendly voice.

"Likewise Kurosaki-san" the wolf now Komamura replied

"Ya' 'chigo-kun good ta see ya' 'gain" joined in Shinji in his classic grin, but the relief in his eyes made evident to those attentive enough. Suddenly a flying sandal almost nails him in the face.

"yo baldy" said Sarugaki Hiyori in a none chalant tone

"kami damn Hijori!"

"Sarugaki it'll appreciate if you don't throw footwear to my husband, after all that's a right exclusive for me" said Sui-feng in an all too sweet tone that reminded hiyori and all present all too much of a former Healer demon's smile. Ichigo was torn in between being smug and facepalming, why did that aspect of Kushina had to be carried over. The doors opened and decided to get this over with.

As the Captains and vice-captains filed in the couple greeted and embraced the ones they hadn't had chance to yet. More than one gaze was casted on the small blonde in between the couple, but all of them accompanied with a kind smile.

It was just then that it began to hit naruto just how well liked were/are? his parents a cold thought flashed in his mind but dismissed quickly. As they neared the center the other captains all garbed in their white cloak-thingys made two lines at their sides and a man with a sakat and a pink kimono over his white cloak. He had a pleasant smile and droopy eyes, yet the moment he clapped his hands, it somehow resounded in the entire hall and all small talk ceased.

"it truly is a joyous occasion this day, as our beloved friends and saviors have somehow returned to us" the man said with a slow cadence and mirth in his voice; suddenly he spoke again in the same slow cadence yet the steel in his voice betrayed his relaxed stance "now lets us commence this captain meeting in regards as how this came to be, if this a prelude of another event and finally… what will our favorite wild card do now" a few chuckles were heard

"Real funny Kyoraku" deadpanned Ichigo. Some of the new Fuku-taichos despite the tales couldn't help to gawk at the informality and lack of care for rank the living legend had. Sui-feng noticed and couldn't help to smirk; if that surprised them then they were in for a shell shock.

"sorry sorry Ichigo, now I believe all captains were forwarded a resume of what Ichigo-kun and former Capt. Sui-feng remember from the time of their last attack to the time they; as they recalled it, awoke in mid-battle inside a military village known as Konoha in the lost realm" Ichigo filed that tid bit of info for later question.

"HAI" was from all the captains

"Good then lets first formally introduce the son of the reincarnated Kurosaki Ichigo and Sui-feng; formerly known in the lost realm as Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina. Naruto please know that you're welcomed among all us the Gotei and all we expect of you is to be happy & be your own persona we know the difference between the _kunai & the scroll_. Your parents are heroes from the afterlife and have always had a fierce resolution and love for their family and friends; so much that if I'm correct from what I heard some of that transferred all the way in their next life just to ensure your survival. You'll come to see that in their care you'll find a true family; as I hope SS also becomes too" both of naruto's parent tightened their hold on his shoulders to let him know how serious they were. Naruto again was beyond words as the emotions assaulted him.

"Ha… ha… hai, thank you very much 'ttebayo" was all he could managed out

"now run along with your companions, we'll try to make this quick so you can spend family time so well deserved" Naruto looked at his parents and they nodded to him. He exited the hall accompanied of an escort.

"Now Ichigo, do you have any insight as to what happened?"

"Only conjecture as of now Kyoraku. The seal used on my son required the direct intervention of the Shinigami to seal the Nine tails inside him" he said him bitterness, Sui-feng grabbed his hand in reassurance "now unless anyone here has knowledge of this; my guess is that the seal truly involves the assistance of the Soul king, or an equivalent in this _lost realm_. That in itself makes for unpredictable results. When the Snake bastard used the forbidden jutsu to bring back our bodies, with our souls apparently he lost control of it from intervention of the 3rd Hokage and we were somehow able to recall both our lives as we saw our son, fucking, flying thru the air as he battled the damned sand raccoon" said Ichigo as he snarled the last bits; again gaining a few odd looks and more chuckles "what I do remember it's a seal with the kanji for _soul_ that was on us as we regained our memories and assumed our identities. An interesting fact is that both personas have merged and while our lives as shinigami took precedence and dominance; due to their intensity I guess, we gained characteristics both physical and mental from both lives. The most notorious right now is that I have gained, or regained, the analytical mind of my time as Minato"

"While I have retained what might be called an Uzumaki trait, as my sensing abilities are off the charts"

"houu, how so little bee?" replied the Shihoin runaway

"right now I'm able to keep track of naruto's reiatsu including all of his companions without actively focusing in it, as my sensing area expanded to what it's most probably that little ramen stand near the north rokungai districts" A soft whistle came from kenpachi.

"That's a lot, maybe I'll look you up when Ichigo tries to weasel out of our fight" commented the captain of the 11th with a smirk

"You just had to, huh Zaraki; though I must say that your span of attention has improved do much" snapped back the former captain of the 2nd. Again the particular laugh of Komamura Sajin was heard.

"I bet he's just glad to not having to deal with this now" remarked shinji with a smirk.

"You have no idea" commented the wolf

"Could these changes affect your powers in some way, as I understand the living of the lost realm have their own brand of power" commented the new captain that resulted to be a woman of slim build with platinum hair and golden eyes that shined _inquisebly_. Her captain haori was tied to her waist by a black obi and wore some chromed pauldrons and arm bracers.

"Not from what I have felt up until now, being honest it has been more like our reiatsu was made more compatible to chakra. Alas I'm not completely sure since we haven't had any chance to do a test run" he then looked at his wife

"I'd say the same, not sure how to explain it, we still have reiatsu but it feels _denser,_ perhaps?"

"Any theories Ichigo-kun" Kyoraku said asked with deceptively innocent smile

"Kami, did you and Geta-boshi got together and practice or what…" most of the vice-captains were lost to what did he meant, but all the captains knew well enough "… anyway, from what I recall chakra it's supposed to be the equal balance between the spiritual (yin) and the physical (yang) energies molded together inside a shinobis body which in turn allow the usage of the jutsus; ranging from elemental nature to the non-elementals. It would stand to reason the yin part of chakra to be our reiatsu & the ambient reishi, it should be…" he paused as deep thought

"But you have other ideas perhaps Ichigo-kun" interjected Urahara

"Maybe, I still can't get too technical but maybe reiatsu and chakra are the same energy. The difference that one it's heavily tipped to the yang (chakra) and the other to the yin (reiatsu) ; and the supposed perfect balance inside the body doesn't actually mean that it's balanced in _equal_ parts. I mean if our powers were strictly pure yin in their nature we might not able to interact with the living; at all, period"

"Quite the theory Ichigo-kun, Capt. Nemu if you please could do a follow up on that line of though, we'll discuss later whether to send a contingency to take sample or not. It will also be needed to be considered if the lost realm will need the intervention of the SS now that it's open again; as such an exploration party we'll be formed. That leads us to the next point, Ichigo Sui-feng what will you do from now on" he asked she silent Captain just nodded

"Being honest I just want to take sochi and stay here in SS and leave all the dangers inherent to his status behind, but, we know that he has gained precious people back in Konoha and if he's less than half like his father; no doubt he'll want to go back one way or another" she said in a matter of fact tone

"Much to my chagrin I believe so too. Kyoraku-san…" Ichigo paused as he closed his eyes and breathed in "…I want to both reward & help those precious to my son; as well punish those that dared harm him, those that assaulted him, burned him, mutilated him and made him believe that living in a dump and among the trash is the norm" said Ichigo as he opened his eyes gain in a hateful scowl and barely repressed rage remembering what his son told them. His reiatsu spiked and made the vice-captains hard to breathe, as the captains sweated a little sans Kyoraku; and his wife. Sui-feng patted him on the shoulder to get to calm down; Ichigo caught on and lowered his reitasu.

"Sorry about that" he sighted

"Don't mind it" surprisingly the one to respond was none other than Kenpachi Zaraki "whatever you do Ichigo, when it comes the time to punish the idiots you better call me I want in. Non-interference rules be damned" he said not long after, looking pointedly at the Capt. Commander. While not unwelcomed both Sui-feng and Ichigo were stunned at the sudden declaration; all the captains for that matter.

"Thank you, will do Kenpachi" said Ichigo deciding to take it into stride. Sui-feng looked at him questioningly and he simply shrugged with a smile.

"che!" he just scoffed

"it seems obvious at this point that we'll have at least a few incursions" said the Capt. Commander ignoring Kenpachi's rant "Sui-feng-san I need to ask, would the living be a danger to us?" the assassination expert mulls it over for a while

"That's a difficult question; they have the numerical advantage as we most likely could only send small units to the lost realm, they also have home field advantage. Power wise the average shinigami outclasses the average chunin in both speed and strength I'd say a GOOD unseated shinigami equals to a mid-high chunin; and the a jounin can equal to any seated officer up to 4th and 3rd seats as they are much more experienced and can compensate the gap in speed and or strength one way or another. Any captain should be at high-ANBU and Kage level; but that's just speaking in general terms I'm more than sure that any veteran here would be on the same standing as some legends from the shinobi world" she said with smirk pointedly at the oldest captains at the meeting "however there are some thing to be considered that put us at a disadvantage and could lead to chunin or jonin class endangering a Capt. class"

"What would that be?" asked the Capt. Commander, though he already had an idea. The other captains arched some eyebrows.

"The differences between the fighting styles and mentality of shinigami and shinobi. The shinobi tend to fight with deceptions in & out, before & after battle; for them a victory means making sure the enemy doesn't win, even if you lose and fall with them; it means that any method is true & valid and that honor only comes from protecting your village and its secrets. Poisoning, traps, impairing or ganging on an enemy and mind tricks, those are the kind of battle strategies you must expect when fighting a shinobi that's worth its salt. Although like in everything there are always exceptions and some individuals will go outside the norms but all in all that's how shinobi life is. It's not uncommon to hear stories of arrogant or overconfident shinobi's being downed by a lucky shot or very well placed trap, ambush, poison, etc" finished Sui-feng in half warning to everyone present; don't get cocky. While the captains quickly got over the surprise they did felt a slight shiver at the picture the ex-assassin captain painted for them; all except Zaraki he didn't seem to mind. The vice-captains however were well, well a little scared; despite their power superiority if the past leader of the Assassination squad said you could be taken down by a lucky shot then you ought to listen.

"Well Ichigo-kun we might be able to address all of our problems in one fell swoop, but you'll have to compromise a bit" said the Capt Commander after a moments of deep though with a not so innocent grin and an ominous tone. Ichigo just groaned as his wife slapped him in the head.

* * *

"So let me get this straight sensei, the idiot brought back my student and his wife but somehow during the fight they changed and became someone else. They spoke some nonsense, mostly to themselves, about past memories. They actually blasted their way thru the four corner violet cage; twice might I add. This Kurosaki Ichigo stayed and battled the snake, after, he helped you took out the two first Hokages with some weird chanted jutsu. In addition he pushed the snake back and had the gall to claim he finished warming up, claiming to have impaired him very badly after another weird blast of that strange black fire. I'm good so far?" Sarutobi just groaned and motioned the Toad -pervert- sage to continue

"Then apparently the woman that was Kushina-not-kushina, from some witnesses; mainly the sand brothers, she went one on one vs the Ichibi. Actually pounding the shit out 'ta him and helped Naruto take the Gaara kid down. They returned and the orange boy practically threatened that Naruto may not come back; while he took the sand boy a crony of the snake and the last uchiha might I add" again the old hokage motioned him to go on "and disappeared in a freaking tori door that appeared and vanished from thin air!" he finished his rant with labored breaths.

"Exactly so Jiraya-kun, fortunately all present were loyal to me and jounin or above, so they've been sworn to secrecy. However I don't know how much longer we'll be able to keep things under wraps"

"Thank kami for small mercies, well what are you gonna' do sensei, what are you gonna' do if…" he was interrupted as mist filled the room and the door of said tori portal slammed open and a very pissed off Ichigo entered followed by a man with a straw sakat and pink kimono he was followed discretely by a girl with a half bun and glasses; the last man had raven hair and a neutral mask that didn't betray anything. The three men wore a white haori or cloak in different fashions. The man with the sakat seemed to wore a simple white haori under his pink kimono, but the raven haired one wore a more military looking coat in an open fashion. Sarutobi noted that Ichigo wore his differently than a few hours ago; instead of having it tied down to his waist now it was clasped to his shoulders by his pauldrons and fell in a neat and sleek manner, held together at his chest and waist by the cross wraps that went from his pauldrons to the hip guard at the end of it. It had a high neck that appeared to have some black clasps to hold it closed over the mouth and nose. The coat reached roughly up to his ankles and ended in a jagged manner with black diamonds in each end.

"I-Ichi…" stuttered Hiruzen before a glare from the orange haired made him pause

"Shut up, Kurosaki-taicho for you Hiruzen. I don't care whether you believe me or not, but don't think for a minute that I actually would have to be an Ex-kage to notice the clear signs of chronic malnutrition and abuse on Naruto"

"and you old pervert better have a good reason for not being there for him after being named his godfather; else you'll wish to be force fed Maa's food again after I'm done with you" Jirayia had to repress a shudder crawling up his spine, and bowels, at the memories.

"I'm going to tell you exactly what's going to happen you geezers and it's a take it or leave it kind of deal, be thankful our son actually wants to come back" he said with finality and flared his power to the six ANBU's hidden in the room knocking them out instantly, and they just slammed against the floor. Just after that Byakuya pressed the red button of what looked like honest to kami an Atari joystick; courtesy of the crazy Geta-boshi. A hazy mist seemed to cover the whole room and the raven haired one nodded to Ichigo.

"Now listen and listen closely" said Ichigo again flaring his power even more than before and held it in but had a constant influx to put the pressure on the old men. Those two were in for a veritable steam rolling. With two spirits of more than a few centuries and a past master diplomat; infused with the famous shiba drive, they were way up over their heads.

* * *

Sui-Feng, sat drinking tea placidly as she watched her son make use of the Kuchiki state training area. She took a sip taking note of Naruto's strengths and weaknesses; he was doing a mighty fine job but his variety of attacks and overall training were lacking. She could see that it wasn't for lack of enthusiasm, as not everyone would be up for a battle royal against 50 copies of yourself. So it would seem that there was some sort of foul play here. A genin skills shouldn't be this sub-par. Also there was the matter of the Uchiha, it felt like he was hiding something and from time to time his eyes would glass over for second. Kami-sama was he a brooder! Not even sand boy was that bad. Speaking of he seemed to be off in his world, it seemed Ichigo's little _threat_ had worked marvelously. Maybe the kid would get some peaceful nights now, she idly wondered if his inner hollow was still present. She knew his reiatsu still had that hollow _ish_ signature, yet it now felt more uniform opposed as before that felt like the _taint_ was hidden beneath his Shinigami signature. He had mentioned briefly something about accepting his power as they were, was this new uniform power result from whatever brought them back or was it like that in the final moments of the war? With everything so hectic back then she didn't had time to appreciate that. Suddenly she was struck by a stray thought, which made her pause suddenly. Were her own power changed? She certainly wasn't the same as before, she had lived a whole (somewhat) another life. Even if she was most definitely _Sui-Feng_ her life as _Kushina_ was still felt very strongly. She had to check this as soon as possible.

"What's the matter little bee, you suddenly got stiff as a board"

"Yoruichi-sama, I'm glad you came. Just had a sudden thought that left with some doubts" she addressed her former master as she sat beside her in a very unlady like manner as is her custom.

"ohh do tell little bee"

"Just wondering if this whole _issue_ might have affected my Zanpaktou powers" Yoruichi arched an eyebrow at that

"Maybe, this is more of Kisuke's field but I feel that more than change your power or something like that. They'll might have become more mature"

"Mature?" she asked quite confused

"yes, as I said this is more of Kisuke's field but I don't think your core has actually changed or become something else that would alter your powers. You're still my cute little bee that tried to hide her MASSIVE crush on the strawberry protector because he actually went full out against her and still cared for her injuries after the fight and became his staunchest supporter after everything was said and done. You're still you, Sui-feng just that now your fiery temper and will to defend what's precious to you by every mean is now tempered by having had carried a life in you. For nine months you carried a life within you, it has made you grow more. I'm positive that that growth will be shown on you Zanpaktou and your powers" she finished as she squeezed Sui-Feng's hand.

"Thank you, Yoruichi-sama" she replied after a few seconds after she managed to flush out her blush

"Well he certainly is a fire cracker that son of yours"

"He's a battle genius and he doesn't even know it" she replied as she catches a cloned stray kunai and then it poofed out of existence.

"oohh, do tell"

"The shadow clone technique, was primarily used as a recon jutsu. While fragile compared to other clones; like the elemental ones, they have the advantage that any info they learn will be relied to the main bode upon dispellment"

"Ho hoooh, now that's useful and if one were to let's say puts those clones to train…"

"All the experience would be transmitted back, yes. Of course physically he won't get a thing but, right now for example, every time he manages to dispel a clone he gets feedback of how that clone managed to slip his defense and land a blow"

"Which in turn improves his reaction time, sets in reflexes and ingrains muscle memory" supplied the Shihoin heiress.

"I do wonder if Sarutobi has figured out the secret to no paperwork ever" mussed aloud

"Let me guess, shadow clones"

"He hasn't and not about to give him small mercies after all his bullshit" said Ichigo as he arrived by flash step followed shortly by Byakuya with a small frown

"Ichigo-san, language please but considering the past events I guess it's understandable"

"Right sorry Byakuya" he replied as he rubbed his nose bridge and sat down beside his wife.

"What the matter Ichigo"

"What the matter Ichi-bo" said both Yoruichi and Sui-Feng at the same time, they looked at each other and giggled at bit. Byakuya arched an eyebrow but said nothing

"You won't believe the literal… er… okay no nice to say it, but it's a literal shit storm waiting to blow over back in Konoha. Hiruzen has really gone soft and that is just if he truly hasn't gone dark like Danzo. Either way the _negotiations_ are almost done, we ironed out most of what we need back in the village. All that's left is presenting ourselves to the council of geezers; which shouldn't be a problem since we'll be using the actual _magne charte_ , apparently the idiots made various additions to the law when I died but didn't actually dare to remove the originals laws. Thanks to that there are several loopholes we'll be able to take advantage of" he said before taking a sip of tea that had just been brought by a servant.

"For now rest Ichigo-san, I already ordered some lunch to be brought over" offered Byakuya

"Thank you very much Byakuya"

"Think nothing of it Sui-Feng"

"So Ichigo, did you perhaps learnt something about the Uchiha?" Ichigo's gaze steeled.

"Yes, but let's wait for the food; believe me there's too much to tell" he said seriously as he gazed at the Uchiha scion perched on the branches of a tree in the courtyard.

"Say Yoruichi, is you brother as fanatical as you when playing tag?" Yoruichi gazed to where he was looking and gained a Cheshire smirk and cat-like eyes.

"Why yes Ichi-bo, perchance you believe the little brooder needs some healthy fun time" Ichigo chuckled and nodded

"Why don't you rope in the other two Yoruichi-sama" said Sui-feng sipping from her cup. The hellcat just smirked and sent a hell butterfly to her little brother.

After a few minutes the food arrived at the same time Rukia and his other friends did. Byakuya invited them supper and ordered more food to be brought over. Yoruichi's brother, Yuushirou, already had arrived and with much gusto had taken _borrowed_ Naruto, Sasuke  & Gaara's shirts and promptly _suggested_ a friendly game of tag. Somehow even Gaara got into it, thanks to Naruto mostly.

"So Kurosaki, or is it Kuroshiba now, who are thinking to take with you" Ichigo glared at the smirking Uryuu, as Rukia, Inoue and Sui-Feng giggled; Renji smirked along with Uryuu and Chad had a light smile.

"Shut up, I'm still dreading to meet with Kukaku. Anyway thanks to Shunsui-san now we're the Gotei 14 and my Squad will be the _First response, reckon & assault squad _in his words the first and last defense line" he took a bite of his sandwich and continued "I was hoping that you guys join in to the squad; whether you come or not to Konoha. Though I guess Uryuu has to take care of his people"

"Quite so, but that's for a later time lets focus in this particular endeavor" he responded calmly

"As I said I wanted to bring you guys; someone from the 2nd, 4th, maybe the 11th though I'm somewhat reluctant to meet with Kenpachi and finally I was wondering if was possible to bring some Arrancars and Quincys" he finished looking pointedly to the new Quincy head. That surprised most of them. The first three were somewhat obvious but the last two even if tactically sound, weren't expected. Yoruichi and Sui-feng smirked, the latter somewhat expecting this from her husband and the former amused to no end. Uryuu got over his surprised and just shook his head in amusement.

"Good to see that despite your changes at the core you're the same demanding idiot of always"

"Miss you too asshole, so what do you think?"

"I'll see what I can do, some surviving ex-letter might be interested" Yoruichi snickered thinking in some healthy payback

"Yeah I'll speak with Yuushirou, I'm sure he can spare a dozen or two of his men" thinking it would be a good opportunity to measure the Onmitsukido against the shinobi

"Isane-san can most likely spare a few healers, though not that many" chimed in Rukia

"I'm more than sure that Ikkaku or Yumichika would like to go, but then again Zaraki-taicho… maybe some of the guys from Iba-san or my own squad" offered the redhead. From there it spiraled onto suggested members and compromises of sporadic visits and such. For obvious reasons Rukia and Renji were unable to outright go with them, but would be available in case of emergencies and would try to visit from time to time, Yoruichi would go with them as go-between for them and SS (Ichigo knew better than that, nevertheless he was reassured to have her on board) Geta-boshi would do as he pleased but overall he would manage the connection between the two worlds from the shinobi side and Nemu-san from the SS side. They sent a few hell butterflies and Uryuu informed his side. It appeared that everything was in order and the newly formed 14th squad would commence operations as reckon and first contact in the shinobi world, at least on paper; everyone knew that this was the way of SS to give something back to their two heroes.

* * *

Just as the boys returned utterly spent with a grinning Yuushirou that skipped to his Nee-san, they finished the discussions and told them to go refresh themselves. They received a hell butterfly that the memory viewing machine was ready and Nemu-san and Kisuke were heading for the Kuchiki state. Ichigo and Sui-Feng steeled themselves and sent more hell butterflies calling over some select ones. They ushered the pre-teens and bid them to their quarters on the excuse of going to the kuroshiba compound on the morrow; woefully true for Ichigo's tastes. Nemu did one last _medical check_ and Naruto was sent to dine and then sleep. Gathered were most of his close ones; his friends regardless whether they were human, Shinigami or whatever else. As such it came with some measure of surprise as Nel walked in at the last minute and did NOT jump-hugged-strangled the life out of him. Instead hugged him tenderly, said nothing and sat down.

"Alright, there's no nice way to put this and it'll be less so to watch it" said Ichigo as he clenched his fist and his knuckles turned white.

"However, it's painfully obvious that our Sochi has been abused, beaten, starved and Kami does not allow it mayb… maybe even… eve… ra… (sob)" she broke and her breath hitched as she sobbed. She calmed down as she felt her husband's hand on her shoulder.

"Nemu-san if you please" said Ichigo with a grim expression.

That night nothing short of a miracle was the fact that Kisuke Urahara's reiatsu dampeners didn't gave out from the sheer pressure that leaked from all the present, that and the fact that they actually tried to reign in their ire. They were quiet, there was no need for words, some in grim expressions and other in silent fury. The sole fact that the bubbly teen that was Ichigo and Sui-Feng's son had survived THAT and managed to push it down and somehow for better or worse, move on made them all have a new found respect for the kid. They all had one single thought coursing through their minds. Retribution, there WOULD be retribution.

* * *

As morning came Naruto began to stir as he was softly awoken by gentle hands. He yawned rather unceremoniously and rubbed his eyes. He heard some chuckles coming from his new favorite voices and rapidly the last dredges of sleep.

"Come on son, get up today you'll meet up with some other familiars of ours, albeit somewhat crazy" said his Tou-san

"Up my sochi let's get you changed so we can go and have breakfast over the Shi… Kuroshiba complex" said his Kaa-san in motherly voice

"HAI!"

Kukaku Kuroshiba was anxiously pacing near the entrance of the newly reconstructed family complex. Despite having restored the clan's properties inside the SS they decided to reside mainly in the manors outside of it, out there in the rokungai. The Shiba always believed in being in contact with the souls they supposedly had to protect and they would continue to do so. Perhaps that's what originated the fierce family bonds that made them so famous; though it could be the other way around thought idly the current head of the family.

Speaking of family she was half of a mind to simply take off and search for her newly returned nephew. Honestly she had almost murdered his brother Isshin when he came and told her of Ichigo and his sisters. Since the first time she saw him she had an inkling; god damn it he truly was a carbon copy of her little brother Kaien with orange hair. However the prospect of Ichigo truly being a family member was too outrageous to be true after all Isshin was supposedly dead and Kaien fiercely devoted to Miyako. Now, now the brat come back after having being dead for real for nearly two centuries; with a son to boot. Damn brat always making trouble, she paused at that thought and chuckled a little, every single time it had been for the sake of standing for his beliefs and protecting his precious people. A true Shiba even if he didn't know it; Kuroshiba as of now but who cares.

Just then she felt the signatures of the brat and his wife; go figure he would melt the heart of Soul Society's Ice Queen. As they landed near the entrance she made out three teens, Karin and Yuzu had told her that troublemaker Jr. was the blond one so she idly wondered who the other two kids were. She also took notice of the _differences_ in both Ichigo and Sui-Feng. She had to admit that particular shade of red in the former assassin suited her in a kinda deadly way; blood red. Ichigo looked a little weird with his blonded hair tips, though his now dark blue ocean eyes suited them; his longer hair and improved physic complimented nicely with the new Taichou get up.

"Come on and hurry up ya brat! Get over here, how you dare get yourself off _ed_ down without my permission!" Shouted Kukaku as Ichigo was about to greet her and grabbed him onto a bone crushing hug. Ichigo was about to refute her and say he wasn't exactly off _ed_ by anyone but himself, but felt the dampening on his chest so he just said

"I'm back Kukaku-sa… nee-san" her breathing hitched and remained silent for a few second

"Got it in one brat, we're family" she said finally and took a look at Sui-Feng and smirked at her

"And you better know that your littler Ice Queen act won't do in here"

"Of course not" she said in an amused smile as she closed her eyes briefly and closed in and hugged the family head when she opened them. Kukaku went stiff in surprise.

"wha-"

"Something that definitely carried over from my time as Kushina is the value of family and the pain of losing it" she said knowingly to the whole Shiba problem in the past.

"well enough about that for now, come on let's get your brats inside and have some food. Now just where that idiot of my brother got to?" and just then as if on cue they heard it and Ichigo just groaned.

"Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiichhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" came the scream or more like screech that came closer and closer until a human missile went past Kukaku and was about to drop kick Ichigo. Surprisingly it wasn't Ichigo that countered him but Sui-Feng as she took a step forward, gently redirected his momentum upwards and in a swift motion grabbed his ankle and promptly used his speed to slam him to the ground, leaving an indentation on the ground.

"Always wanted to do that" she said off handedly

"Love you more everyday" said Ichigo as he pecked her lovingly on the cheek. Naruto on his part was unsure to laugh his ass off or pity the strange man; Sasuke was decidedly cowed by the speed and power of Naruto's new mother and made a note not to piss her off. Kukaku didn't so much as spare a glance and said.

"Come on, koganehiko or shiroganehiko will clean the trash later"

* * *

 **Alright din't realized how long i had left this postponed until i saw thta the temporal archives of all my chapters where expired (lol) good thing i have all of them in word files.  
**

 **anyway i'm sorry the chapter didn't satisfied me (still doesn't comletely) and kept trying to add something more**

 **NOw some guys have urged me to add warnings and stuff like that at the start of chapters; i'll do that but after a cat has been let out of the bag i always feel like doing that to soon and you just add spoilers**

 **as always thank you for your support and hope you liked it, pls review and be constructive about it**

 **Thx**


	5. Chapter 5 Surprises and rotten luck

Beyond the afterlife

"normal talk"

 _"_ _normal thoughts"_

 **"** **bijuu/super natural talk"**

 ** _"_** ** _demon/super natural thoughts"_**

I don't own anything, except O.C.

* * *

 **Previously...**

* * *

 **"I'm back Kukaku-sa… nee-san" her breathing hitched and remained silent for a few second**

 **"Got it in one brat, we're family" she said finally and took a look at Sui-Feng and smirked at her**

 **"And you better know that your littler Ice Queen act won't do in here"**

 **"Of course not" she said in an amused smile as she closed her eyes briefly and closed in and hugged the family head when she opened them. Kukaku went stiff in surprise.**

 **"wha-"**

 **"Something that definitely carried over from my time as Kushina is the value of family and the pain of losing it" she said knowingly to the whole Shiba problem in the past.**

 **"Well enough about that for now, come on let's get your brats inside and have some food. Now just where that idiot of my brother got to?" and just then as if on cue they heard it and Ichigo just groaned.**

 **"Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiichhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" came the scream or more like screech that came closer and closer until a human missile went past Kukaku and was about to drop kick Ichigo. Surprisingly it wasn't Ichigo that countered him but Sui-Feng as she took a step forward, gently redirected his momentum upwards and in a swift motion grabbed his ankle and promptly used his speed to slam him to the ground, leaving an indentation on the ground.**

 **"Always wanted to do that" she said off handedly**

* * *

Naruto was sure of something, if Sakura-chan ever saw a Kuroshiba gathering she would never call him loud again, ever. More than a breakfast it looked like an out of control feast; and kaku-nee actually complained that there were too few people. He glanced at the barely retrained chaos in front of him and sweat dropped. A quick glance to his companion Gaara and saw him with a tranquil face but a slight widening of his eyes told him he also was taken aback by that off handed comment. He absentmindedly tried to ask Sasuke, but remembered that he was taken a while ago by his Okaa-san. So he decided to ask his Tou-san again.

"Ne ne Tou-san, do you know anything about the tem-Sasuke?" he corrected himself at the last part when his father raised his hand to flick him again. Ichigo on his part thought about it and while he trusted his wife's word enough to let her take the kid without much fuss; he didn't want to just blow off his son he suspected that had to be a regular occurrence for him till now, so he decided to be upfront with him

"As I said Naruto, Sui-chan just told me that she noticed something and took Sasuke-kun with her. I trust her enough that if it was something grave she would have told me to bring you, most likely she doesn't want to worry you if it turns out to be something small"

"Oh" responded Naruto still somewhat pensive. Ichigo chuckled and ruffled his son's hair.

"Take it easy son, give _your_ mother the benefit of the doubt"

"Hai!" chirped Naruto as the thought of _his_ mother lifted his mood. Ichigo smiled softly at him and told him to finish his food. Naruto obviously dived in with gusto; in contrast the redheaded boy had barely eaten from his plate. Ichigo paid him more attention and saw that he was watching the party member warily, yet with certain longing. He ate the food with relish but was almost afraid to eat more. Knowing that he was a Jinchuuriki he roughly guessed why he behaved like that. Frowning he remembered when he felt the Ichibi stirring within him when he awoke in the infirmary; thankfully it wasn't trying to escape. However it did seemed to upset the boy; so he decided to mess with the little bastard and sent a small but really concentrated wave of hollow reiatsu and told him to _shut the fuck up, else he drag him personally to the very gates of hell_ , that seemed to calm it down. His heart went out for the kid but helping him would be a process in the works for a long time; time he may not truly have. The least he could do for now was give him small mercies.

"Hey! Eat up there's plenty, but with this morons it could very well be long gone before you know it" he said to Gaara as he grabbed a piece of Chicken from his plate and ate it up. All the while smiling at him and letting him see quite clearly that he grabbed it from his plate and nothing happened after eating it. He half guessed that the kid was trained to expect poisoned food from strangers; and maybe also he wasn't used to food being _offered_ so freely to him.

"Ichigo! Shame on you, to steal the food of an innocent child! Oh Masaki where did I go wrong with our delinquent son!" he cried fake tears to a Kami damn poster of his mother

"Shut up Oyaji! SHO!" yelled Ichigo as he overcharged the first Bakudo and knocked his father through the wall. The hall erupted in heavy laughter and Ganju came near with a Sake gourd.

"Hahahaha haven't seen someone knock uncle Isshin on his ass for a long time, besides Kukaku-nee"

"Oh shut up Ganju, you better not be here to try to give some of that to my son" he threatened as he eyed the Sake gourd. Ganju on his part sputtered some denials at the accusation, which amused Naruto to no end.

"Geez Ichigo, have some faith! Actually I was coming to give it to you"

"Whatever, I'll have faith when you give a reason to have some" he said only half meaning it as he frowned

"Isn't that contradictory" said Ganju as he facepalmed. Ichigo loosed the scowl and laughed a bit

"What do you know, you have a brain up there" responded Ichigo clearly amused, but took the gourd nonetheless. Ganju grumbled a bit but just laugh it up after a few moments.

"What's that Tou-san?" asked Naruto quite curios now because of the conversation.

"Sake son, though you're a shinobi I think you still a little too young for it" Naruto pouted at that

"That and I don't want your mother on my case if I gave you some" Naruto paused at that, yeah not worth it he thought.

"Here let me Ichigo-sama" said the new addition that had arrived just when they came into the mess hall.

"Thank you Tayuya-chan but really it isn't necessary for you go to this extremes" pleaded Ichigo in vain

"Nonsense I have pledged myself to you and your house, I shall remained forever grateful and loyal to you, Sui-feng-sama and Naruto-sama" the branch Uzumaki responded as she fumbled with all the new etiquette and manners she had been rush learning from the Kuchiki state servants. She really needed to thank Byakuya-sama for his help. She took the gourd uneasily and slowly afraid to drop it from her nervousness. She took a cup and filled it with the sake and with as much care as she could handed it to Ichigo. He just thanked her and smiled in defeat as he drank from it. Naruto on his part eyed her warily without any subtlety, he had been given a short version of who she was. Logically he had certain distrust of her, but at the same time he could understand wanting to get away from the snake-pedophile as his Tou-san had dubbed him. He sighted heavily and guessed he should give her a chance, after all part of him was reminded slightly of Haku as he was told a little of her story. Not literally of course, but the part where she didn't had any real options or control over her life.

"Ne ne, Tayuya-chan you really don't have to call me - _sama_ ; you don't really have to be stiff about it" he pouted, in truth it being spoken so formally was making him be self-conscious.

"I can't Naruto-sama" she replied though smiling at him. He harrumphed but let it go, at least she didn't have a figurative stick in her ass. He was suddenly smacked on the head by his Tou-san as if knowing what he just thought. He told himself that there was no was that he knew he had thought about a stick in the…

"Manners Naruto" he said as he smacked him again Naruto's eyes widened at that.

 _"_ _No way!"_

"Yes way, you're not precisely concealing your emotions" his tou-san replied and his uncle(?) Ganju snickered

"Got ya there kid" said his uncle

 _"_ _Fuck!"_ and he was promptly flicked in the forehead so strongly Naruto hit the floor with a loud _thump_. The Kuroshiba members looked to the source of the sound for a second but when Ichigo waved them off they keep at it like nothing had happened.

"A little too thick headed son, we'll have to correct that" his dad said with an amused smile. Tayuya eyed dumbfounded not being sure what the exchange had really been about. She decided to let it be and chalk it up to a _guy-_ thing.

"Like your one to talk little nephew, well not so little now but who cares" said the voice of Kukaku from behind them as she neared the table and sat in the tatami near Ichigo.

"Shut up" grumbled Ichigo

"Well I suppose in the end everything worked out" she responded with a slight slur as she waggled her eyebrows at him. Ichigo groaned, but then smirked as he grabbed a bread bun and flicked it right into her mouth effectively shutting her up. It degenerated from there as Ganju exploded in laughter and Kukaku spluttered in indignation and Ichigo yet again flicked another bun; right in her mouth. Kukaku punched her brother in the face as she yelled him to shut up and the crowd just exploded in laughter. Ichigo chuckled while grinning, he glanced to Tayuya and saw that the poor girl was torn between outright laughing and trying to _properly_ cover her laughter with her hand. He saw the merry ambient, his son being hit on the head by Kukaku as she told him to stop laughing, Ganju rubbing his face still grinning. He also remembered the last days with all the reunions with his friends and family. Closing his eyes he relished silently the pleasant feeling of being among those precious to you; and even with the overall chaos of the Shibas, the feeling of peace that came to him.

"Ichigo, Kisuke sent word" the war hero was interrupted from his musings by his father. He glanced at him and saw his rare serious expression; luckily there was no sense of urgency about him.

"Alright, all good I hope?"

"Well, there's one thing that made Sui-feng concerned but there's nothing wrong with the brat" he answered Isshin neutrally. Ichigo raised an eyebrow and sighed, his damned luck seemed to be acting up again.

 _"_ _That or the damn thing is actually hereditary"_ he thought ruefully as he glanced at Naruto who was trying to rope in Gaara to defend himself from an ever increasing drunken Kukaku.

"Alright Ojaji. Tayuya-chan keep the brats from the alcohol… and from dying!" he shouted in an afterthought as he got up and followed his dad to another room.

"Ha… hai Ichigo-sama!" squeaked Tayuya nervously as she was caught off-guard. Ichigo chuckled in amusement, smiling warmly at her he stroke her hair lightly.

"Don't worry kiddo" Tayuya went red like her mistress's hair and just nodded.

* * *

Turning her attention to her new charges. She again was reminded of the weirdness of her current situation. The redhead the sound four had been told of his status as the Ichibi-jinchuuriki and his _inestability_ , understatement of the year, and he was a central piece in the invasion plans.

 _"_ _Not that the bastard seemed to care a lot went that, went to shit"_ in fact he seemed much more concerned with offing the old man than the invasion as a whole. Knowing the snake the Oto-village was probably also a con as the Oto-Suna alliance had been. It wasn't ALL that surprising, but still it did piss her off that they all had been dancing to his tune. Well, that is until her new lord arrived. While she still didn't understand completely where they were and what kind of beings his lord's allies were; she had been paying attention to the snippets of info she could from nearby conversations.

As outlandish as it seemed, they were apparently in the _pure_ world and all the people here were actually shinigamis or his agents or whatever. She idly wondered if she was dead or still alive, but gave it little consequence she would remain with Ichigo-sama either way. Suddenly she felt a tug on her sleeve.

"Ne ne Tayuya-chan, how did you met Tou-san? He only said that you joined him before we came to SS" asked Naruto and Tayuya started to sweat bullets, should she risk it and tell a lie, but her lord knew perfectly her past alliances. Would her lord's son reject her? Besides she wasn't a very good liar, stealth was never much of her concern. She always preferred the brash and direct approach; guess she'll have to change that for the future. Naruto began to tug her again, she sighed heavily and looked in the eye to Naruto.

"I was part of the Invasion Naruto-sama, more specifically I was part of Orochimaru-teme personal force. Other three and I were tasked to separate the Hokage and the bastard from the rest of the fighters if your father, Ichigo-sama had not intervened the Hokage would most likely would have died. I'm not sure if the Hokage would have taken down the snake with him but I know he would have not escaped unscathed" she paused closed her eyes and took breath to start again as she motioned Naruto to let her finish "we created a barrier for that, during the fight the snake used his reanimation jutsu. I don't know all the details but Ichigo-sama and Sui-feng-sama entered the fray after that. I gotta say it was a one sided beat down after that; the snake stood no chance. Ichigo-sama was simply too fast, too strong, too unpredictable and too powerful. I have never seen someone fight like that and have that kind of powers; when Ichigo-sama broke the barrier his attacked passed over me. Despite of who I was and my side in the conflict he took the time to worry about me and take me with you. I'll be honest with you Naruto-sama; I'm not a good person, I ill think I deserve the chance that Ichigo-sama has given me. It doesn't matter that the snake would have killed me if didn't followed his orders, the things I've done have no forgiveness" she ended her confession with rueful note; up until now she had actually forgotten the person and things she had done up until now.

"Tayuya-chan…" began Naruto but he was interrupted

"Naruto-sama! I… I'm sorry and I'll understand if you don't want me to be near you, just please let me stay at your family service! I don't want to return to the Snake-pedo!" she said as she prostrated herself before him and begged him near tears and a broken voice. She waited for him to scorn her to tell her to leave and never come back. She felt a hand on her head that softly stroke her hair.

"It's ok Tayuya-chan, I'm not one to hold grudges. Heck I actually made friends with an enemy once, though she died we did tried to help her and her master, at least they died in peace. Anyway! If Tou-chan thinks that you deserve another chance then I believe him. It'd be hypo… hipora… hipotra"

"Hypotrical" added in Kukaku as she put a hand on his shoulder and encouraged him to go on. Naruto saw that a good portion of the Family were now looking at him and Tayuya with passive expectation. Tayuya began to lift her head from the tatami.

"Yes that, hypo…trical I was also once given a second; more like fifth, to begin anew and to prove everyone that I was more that they all believed I was. A chance to prove 'em wrong; I was given that so I'll now give to you. Come on Tayuya-chan now you'll be part of the family! Though don't ask me anything of whats that about cause were on the same boat there" he said laughing at the last part. Tayuya was beside herself, but before she could say anything the crowd exploded in cheers and patted the surprised Naruto on the back.

"ALRIGHT KIDDO! Spoken like a true Shiba, with you and you father the Kuroshiba will begin like they should!" shouted Kukaku and the whole house exploded in cheers.

"Cheer! For the next heir to the Kuroshiba!" yelled Ganju and Naruto's eyes widened

"WHAT!?" he shouted and the door slammed open as Naruto's dad entered

"GOD DAMN IT KUKAKU! Stop doing whatever you want I never agreed to this!"

"CHEERS FOR THE NEW HEAD OF THE CLAN!"

"CHEERS FOR THE NEW HEAD OF THE CLAN!"

"CHEERS FOR THE NEW HEAD OF THE CLAN!" chorused Kukaku, Ganju and Isshin. Everyone brought up their cups and started congratulating the new head and heir. Ichigo just stayed there with an impassive face and a twitching eyebrow.

"Your new family is certainly… unique, Naruto-san" said the up until now silent Gaara.

"My new family is awesome! DATEBAYOO!" the crowd exploded in laughter once again

"CHEEEERS!"

"Come on Naruto, seems you got some of my awful luck, I got word of your friend"

* * *

Right now Ichigo was sitting in Jinzen, on the porch. No way in hell he was gonna deal with the issue of Sasuke; no that particular can of worms was all for Naruto and Sui-chan to deal with. He was doing the Jinzen as means to relax himself, from the sure to come headaches and hoping to enter his inner world. It was high time that he paid a visit to Zangetsu(s). So he just remained there meditating. He left his mind drift freely; early on he discovered that _clearing_ his mind was not possible so he took the opposite route. He'd let his thoughts wander without a specific focus, just the main intent in this case of contacting his inner world. Not sure of how much time had elapsed, a chime resounded in his head, and a small breeze caressed his faced. As he opened his eyes he realized he was in a familiar place. Ichigo gazed fondly at the massive sideway skyscrapers that littered his inner world. He looked around and found that at the very bottom there were trees and a single one climbed up to the same height to the skyscrapers.

 _"_ _Interesting an allusion to Konoha perhaps"_ thought Ichigo idly. He was pleased to notice that there was no water whatsoever and the buildings were as massive, or more so, than the first time he came here so long ago. The sky was clear and sunny, oddly enough because instead of a sun there was full moon on the sky.

"Zangetsu" he said in a soft but clearly heard voice. Sure enough he felt to presences behind him.

"Hello Ichigo" said a deep baritone voice that spoke of wisdom and power

 **"** **Sup King, been a while HA… HAaa!"** followed another slightly euphoric and echoic version of Ichigo's own voice. He turned around and smiled as saw his two inner spirits. The Old man was as always standing at the top of a pole and was covered by that living shadow cape that fluttered around, even when there was no wind. The other Zangetsu, his hollow was grinning madly as he leaned his back on the pole and crossed his arms. Ichigo came to realize that both of them were Zangetsu the very same moment that he wondered if they were still with him when he awoke back then in Konoha. His hollow liked to call himself _Yasei_ (roughly means Savage) and the Oldman was comfortable with that appellative; regardless both of them were _Zangetsu_. They instinctively knew when and which of them was called even if the only name that Ichigo uttered was Zangetsu.

"That it was Yasei, guess it was too much that death would rid of this damned luck of us" he said in a rueful smile

 **"** **thought luck indeed King, ya' should've know better the King will always walk a different road. Besides ya' can't say this hasn't been one hell of a ride"** said the hollow spirit with a mad grin and endless amusement.

"I'll have to agree with Yasei Ichigo, you have received so much more even with all this seemingly obstacles" replied sagely the Oldman

"I know I know; finally we have a child, finally can we be together, finally can we reap the fruit of our efforts. Even if we had to wait two life times for that" he added with a chuckle

 **"** **Gotta hand it ta' ya' Kingy, croaking out in the blaze of battle two times! Hhahaha that's some level A shit right there. My respect for ya' raised a bit"** he cackled madly

"Oh shut up! Anyway will you help me again Zangetsu"

"Of course Ichigo, we're are part of you, more so now than ever"

 **"** **Ya' got it Kingy, at least now you accepted how to be a King. Either way someone has to make sure ya don't croak a third time, for the little maelstrom"**

"So it's true then, you're not separate powers anymore"

 **"** **Ah… we certainly aren't Kingy. It started back with when fighting the freak Quincy king…"**

"…But it seems to have consolidated when we were _resurrected_ we are one power. Two sides of the same being, as your quincy powers are completely integrated, proof is you don't have a connection to your friend Ishida"

"Good to have you two back" said Ichigo with a warm smile

 **"** **tch"**

"We'll have a spar later, how's that sound Yasei?" said Ichigo deciding to throw a bone to Yasei

 **"** **Ya' better keep your word King"** he said grinning again

"You know I always do so" replied Ichigo with a very rare grin that mirrored his hollow Zanpakuto's one.

"Agreed, but right now there are other pressing issues" cut in the Old man as he gazed at the one tree that stood above all others. Ichigo turned and inspected carefully the three, after some moments he spotted near the base of it, the same seal he had used to trap the Nine Tails so long ago. He blinked one time, two times and groaned

"Actually forgot about that, guess I hoped that the Shinigami, or whoever that was, had sealed it with him"

 **"** **Come on King, when have we been so lucky?"**

"Point in case, effectibly that's where the Nine Tails remains sealed inside your inner world Ichigo" Ichigo just sighed as he arched an eyebrow

"You know thinking about it; there are several things about that night that just don't add up. I kind of feel bad for fuzzy butt, it certainly wasn't fair for him"

 **"** **Well thought luck! Besides the fucker would most likely went on a rampage on his own, anyway"**

"True I suppose, so shall we visit him?" replied Ichigo

"I'd say yes, though I doubt we'll reach an accord in our first meeting…"

"… It still must be done at some point" Ichigo finished the Oldman's line of thought. Ichigo just walked to the edge and jumped down, shortly followed by his two spirits. They landed at the base of the tree, at this distance the seal markings actually towered over them. As they neared it the markings began to give a soft blue and purple glow. The seal began to unwind slowly as the markings spread out. Slowly the wood actually moved and began to open a whole on the bark that widened more and more until the mighty beast was revealed. The nine tail lay trapped and bounded to the tree by branches as tick as car. His limbs were all incased into the wood up to the elbow, knee and half the length of his tails. The numerous branches held everywhere else, acting like belt straps. Ichigo looked at him and noticed that the fur was redder and it seemed sleeker than the last time he saw the bijuu. He wondered if they would have to wake him up or something, when its eyes snapped open and quickly tracked down to the _visitors._ It roared loudly and began trashing around in a futile attempt to break free.

 **"** **FOURTH!"** the small cave made from the opening space shuddered from the mighty roar but held fast.

" **What the… how he knew!? There's not that much of a semblance!"**

 **"** **WHAT! Wait! You have his aura, but you're not him yet are. What's the meaning of this!"** demanded to know the trapped bijuu, trying to pin down with a stare the three figure below him. He noticed that the one in the center while having a smidgen of the 4th aura, he felt different.

 **"** **SHUT THE FUCK UP! Ya're poppin my eardrums out!"** shouted back Yasei as a wave of hollow reiatsu crashed down on the Nine Tails; this made him a shudder but ignored the feeling in his anger

 **"** **Wretched human! I demand you to free me right now, if you want to live you better tell where the 4th is"** Ichigo decided to end this before it escalated more.

"ENOUGH!" shouted back Ichigo as he exerted all his reiatsu; without reigning in the raw, hungry, _devouring_ aspect of his hollow side and the cold _severing_ of his quincy side.

The greatest of the Bijuus was not one to be easily cowed, but this time the sheer amount and feel of this humans aura made him pause a bit. However impossible it may seem, this man felt just like the Shinigami! His overwhelming aura was just the same as when the Shinigami claimed him. What's more he felt two different tints of energy that he had never felt before. One threatened to consume and _devour_ him and the other felt like it would cut him open and _sever_ his power.

 **"** **Who are you? Why do you feel like partly like the 4** **th** **and the Shinigami?"** asked the Nine Tails after a few moments of pause and gathering its thoughts; still he kept a low growl all the while.

"Mine name is Ichigo Kuro…shiba, I'm an… aid to the _Soul King_ or the _Shinigami_ as you know him. The reason for why I _feel_ like the 4th Hokage is simple; I'm his reincarnation" The Kyuubi reeled in at the news. Quickly he began to recall all the lessons the Oldman had the time to impart on them. He had mentioned that the afterlife had another whole world beyond it but he couldn't quite remember all the details; damn it. He also recalled that supposedly the souls entered a sort of cycle but, it lasted a long time even by Bijuu standards; again his knowledge was partial. Damn, it really had been too long. Gathering all he knew he decided that for now practicality took precedence.

 **"** **Where are we, how long have I been imprisoned… what happened to my other half?"** Ichigo sighted and scratched his head trying to figure out how to drop the bomb. The Kyuubi eyed him warily.

"We're in my inner world; my mindscape if you will, however I'm currently in Soul Society… the _pure_ world. In here it has been a little more than 200 years but back in the Elemental Nations about 12 years. Your other half is still sealed inside my son Naruto"

 ** _"_** ** _Still in a damn seal"_** thought bitterly the Kyuubi. There were still too many uncertainties he wanted to call bullshit on this _Ichigo_ but the aura he gave off was unmistakable. So he asked the question that mattered the most right now.

 **"** **What are you planning to do? Now that you woke me up"**

"That depends entirely on you actually, we could try to set you free but without your other half that's kind of risky; we could even get the _judgement_ going and see if you go up in the reincarnation cycle or just down to _hell_ " he said in a smirk…" the Kyuubi growled low cause he knew that wouldn't go all that well for him. Before he really hadn't had to worry about that as he would eternally reform if he somehow died; now…

"…And before anything you should know that if I can't remove your half of Naruto without killing him I simply won't do it. However…"

 **"** **However?"** said the Bijuu in a barely repressed growl

"A lot of complicated things happened, to put it mildly. So I'm going to show you some of my memories; after that it's your choice" just as he said that more branches moved and a flat screen was lowered, it lit up and started showing some of his memories. Ichigo saw the T.V. and turned to his spirits with a raised eyebrow and a _you gotta be shitting me_ face. Yasei just looked as surprised but was clearly amused. The Oldman just smirked in his own way and shrugged his shoulders. Before he could say anything he felt that someone was trying to wake him up.

"I'll leave you to it for a while" he said to the Kyuubi that just grunted in acknowledgement.

"I'll show him the most pertinent memories" said the Oldman

 **"** **Get out already"** dismissed Yasei

"Thanks, I'll see you both later" he said simply with small smile and banished. As he woke up he was greeted by a colorful swat of hairs. Turns out his wife, Nelliel, and surprisingly Tier Harribel were before him.

* * *

"Itsy! Welcome from dreamscape" she yelled as she flung herself to his neck, bringing him down with her on top of him.

 _"_ _Great, just great"_ he thought sarcastically

"Nelliel! Enough!" Shouted Sui-Feng as her eyebrow twitched in annoyance, slightly miffed she had her husband's face between her mounds. Ichigo had enough, though he would never admit that this brought certain nostalgia, charging his finger with quincy reiatsu as pure as he could. He jabbed lightly at her ribs. Immediately Nel squeaked in surprise and got off of him in a single jump.

"Mouuuu Itsygooo! That was mean" she said with a pout. He just chuckled lightheartedly and shook his head.

"I'm married Nel, one way or another it tends to smart you up" he said with an easy grin, though he was promptly swatted in the arm by his lovely wife. He turned to the former espada.

"So what can I help you with Harribel, Tier… err hope you aren't as stickler to titles" he said in an afterthought out loud. She looked amused despite her covered face.

"Worry not… Kuroshiba. I never cared for being called _Queen of Hueco Mundo_ but it serves its purpose as deterrent"

"I'd imagine, anyway just call me Ichigo"

"Thank you, Nelliel has told me of your _situation_. Truth be told when I first was notified of your return I tried to think of a way to express my gratitude to you Ichigo"

"Please don't mind-" he tried to rebuff

"Although we hadn't much direct contact your action beneficed all of Hueco Mundo and you also set me free from the Silver palace dungeons before your fight with the Mad King. I'm a proud being, Kuroshiba Ichigo and I can't leave a debt a life debt unpaid" she cut him off before he could refuse. Ichigo sighed and glanced up to his wife, she was clearly amused.

 _"_ _Of course, if this goes on all this gratitude it's going to kill me, again"_

"Okay, then would you be willing to aid my wife and I in a quest of ours?"

"Yes I would, I believe you wanted to take a few Arrancars to these expedition your wife told me about" Ichigo smiled ruefully

"What exactly is your true aim then?" she asked in a serious tone, cutting directly to the point. Ichigo looked at her in the eye as his gaze hardened. Instantly she recognized that very same look, to the one when he seriously battled and enemy to the dead. Sui-Feng grabbed his shoulder and looked eyes with her also.

"To punish those that manhandled our son, to kill those dared call themselves his guardians a let him go on his own to near death! To…" his temper raised a bit and the reiatsu thrummed the air.

 _"_ _Breath"_ he had to tell himself and took a moment inhale and exhale deeply.

"…to give him a home, a family" he trailed off. The Queen of Hueco Mundo remained silent and just looked at Ichigo. Though he looked weary, he was far from defeated or crushed by insecurities like she had seen so many souls in her existence. She mussed for a while and came to a decision.

"Very well, I shall send 19 Numeros and one Espada with you" Ichigo was surprised, following Sui-chan's deductions as a base that was a pretty strong task force to take. The Numeros tended to be at 10th seat to 4nd seat regularly.

"That's awfully generous Harribel-dono" said Sui-Feng.

"Won't it affect Hueco Mundo if a Espada come with us?" asked Ichigo

"Hardly, while it's true that our numbers are even lower than those of SS. We can make up for it in individual strength. Every Espada has at least reached _un-shinigaficated_ vasto-lorde level and the 1st thru 4th must always have reached a _segunda etapa_ "

"Heh, so Ulquiorra can't boast that privileged anymore" snarked Ichigo

"So it's true, I always felt he had masked his true power since that fight you had at the top of the dome"

"Yay Itsygo I wanna URK-!" she tried to jump on to Ichigo again but Sui-Feng grabbed her from the scruff of the neck the last second and dragged her back.

"That will be resolved at a later time Nelliel" said Tier stoically.

"Mou, Tier meanie" she whined. Ichigo just chuckled and couldn't resist to pat Nelliel in the head just as when she was in her child form. She beamed up at him and giggled to herself.

"Don't worry Nel, those are just the ground forces. We'll be in the elemental Nation for quite the few years, I'm sure we can arrange for visits from time to time" he said to appease her.

"The invitation also extends to you Harribel-dono" added in Sui-Feng with a light smile.

"Much appreciated Sui-Feng-dono" she replied in kind.

"By the way how did he took it?" Ichigo asked his wife.

"Well… considering that his teammate turned out had been implanted a deep consciousness Genjutsu to think that she was a he for close to 4 years; pretty well"

* * *

 **WUUUT BOOM BITCH!... or so lol so, cat's out of the bag. Yes Sasuke turned out to be Satsuki (chose that name because i think sounds close enough and it isn't some made up name) the fonation goes some like this /SAT-su-ki/ in three vowels. anyway basically she was implanted a heavy genjutsu to think she was a boy because Itachi wanted to prevent her to become a breeding machine. in anime Sasuke look pretty androgenic when a child so i guess it's still feasable.**

 **Potential pairings (not all of them shall appear but i still may make allusion or references)**

 **Naruto X Tayuya or Temari (Satsuki not very likely really) those two will be rivals, though it's not a trully romantic start**

 **Karin X Hitsugaya (lol some FanServe may go here and there, softcore though ya pervs)**

 **Rukia X Renji (Sticking to cannon here, no daugther as of yet)**

 **Tatsuki X Yasutora Sado A.K.A. Chad**

 **Orihime X Uryuu (kinda wierd pairing I'll admit but earlier in the anime i got the this feeling like Uryuu sort of backed off from her, sooo yeah decided that in the end he went for it)**

 **Nelliel x Grimkitty *cough* -jow**

* * *

 **Who's going from the Arrancars :**

 **Loly & Menoly**

 **Ggio Vega (so lots of dudes, that gay travesty-thing-IT *SHUDDER*, were brought back in the Quincy Invasion lets add one more and get on with life)**

 **Las tres bestias: Cyan Sun-Sung, Emilou Apacci, Mila Rose**

 **Undescribed Numeros**

* * *

 **Confirmed ones from SS:**

 **Urahara**

 **Yoruichi**

 **Chad**

 **Tasuki**

 **Orihime**

 **Matsumoto**

 **Komamura**

(for now those are the ones i want in Konoha, maybe i'll add Ikkaku and Yumichika but i'm not sure)

* * *

 **From the Quincy who would you like to go; nothing set in stone as of yet, but basically i thought of these guys:**

 **Bambietta Basterbine**

 **Liltotto Lamperd**

 **Meninas McAllon**

 **Candice Catnip**

 **Bazz-B**

 **OC**

 **Undescribed Quincys**

 **(comment or PM any sugestion either a existing sternritter or any idea for OC you have)**

* * *

 **Lol thats it for now hope you enjoyed it, as always review, be constructive and I'll shut up for now LOL**

 **Thx**


	6. Ch 6 Overture moves & jabs in the dark

Beyond the afterlife

"normal talk"

 _"normal thoughts"_

 **"bijuu/super natural talk"**

 ** _"demon/super natural thoughts"_**

I don't own anything, except O.C.

PREVIOUSLY

 _ **"Although we hadn't much direct contact your action beneficed all of Hueco Mundo and you also set me free from the Silver palace dungeons before your fight with the Mad King. I'm a proud being, Kuroshiba Ichigo and I can't leave a debt a life debt unpaid" she cut him off before he could refuse. Ichigo sighed and glanced up to his wife, she was clearly amused.**_

 _ **"Of course, if this goes on all this gratitude it's going to kill me, again"**_

 _ **"Okay, then would you be willing to aid my wife and I in a quest of ours?"**_

 _ **"Yes I would, I believe you wanted to take a few Arrancars to these expedition your wife told me about" Ichigo smiled ruefully**_

 _ **"What exactly is your true aim then?" she asked in a serious tone, cutting directly to the point. Ichigo looked at her in the eye as his gaze hardened. Instantly she recognized that very same look, to the one when he seriously battled and enemy to the dead. Sui-Feng grabbed his shoulder and looked eyes with her also.**_

 _ **"To punish those that manhandled our son, to kill those dared call themselves his guardians a let him go on his own to near death! To…" his temper raised a bit and the reiatsu thrummed the air.**_

 _ **"Breath" he had to tell himself and took a moment inhale and exhale deeply.**_

 _ **"…to give him a home, a family" he trailed off. The Queen of Hueco Mundo remained silent and just looked at Ichigo. Though he looked weary, he was far from defeated or crushed by insecurities like she had seen so many souls in her existence. She mussed for a while and came to a decision.**_

 _ **"Very well, I shall send 19 Numeros and one Espada with you" Ichigo was surprised, following Sui-chan's deductions as a base that was a pretty strong task force to take. The Numeros tended to be at 10th seat to 4nd seat regularly.**_

 _ **"That's awfully generous Harribel-dono" said Sui-Feng.**_

 _ **"Won't it affect Hueco Mundo if a Espada come with us?" asked Ichigo**_

 _ **"Hardly, while it's true that our numbers are even lower than those of SS. We can make up for it in individual strength. Every Espada has at least reached un-shinigaficated vasto-lorde level and the 1st thru 4th must always have reached a segunda etapa"**_

 _ **"Heh, so Ulquiorra can't boast that privileged anymore" snarked Ichigo**_

* * *

Going back a few hours, Sui-Feng was pacing back and forth with a knocked out Sasuke on the bed. She glanced at her son's teammate before sighing, while she waited for her ex-mentor and the crazy scientist. Shaking her head she could only think that this was something out of a corny soup opera or a badly written fiction; she paused a bit at that though, then kept pacing around.

 _"_ _This is ridiculous; I mean really a girl made think she was a boy. There's something really messed up back in Konoha if Itachi-kun felt cornered to do this. He never did something without a reason. If he didn't wanted her to become a living stock to the CRA, then why wipe out the whole clan. That just contradicts the whole idea!"_

She just groaned as she felt the incoming headache already approaching. Ichigo couldn't have been more right in his assessment.

 _"_ _A real shit storm just waiting to happen"_ she thought grimly.

"Little Bee; I'm beginning to think that this is a family thing" said Yoruichi between chuckles

"Don't I know it" fired back Sui-Feng with no real hostility

"So it's true then" added in Urahara from behind Yoruichi.

"Yeah, I knocked her out as soon as it seemed she'd have a mental breakdown. The damn thing actually suppressed all of her secondary sexual traits, but apparently also made her think every single discrepancy was _normal_ and shouldn't dwell on it" she said seriously.

"It seems like some intricate work, though I have to wonder Sui-Feng-san you seem to have it covered from what I see and you are better suited since you have your Shinobi memories. So that begs the question, why have m0e come to look at it" said Urahara in his deceptively cheerful tone; while his stupid fan covered his smirk.

"Oh shut it Urahara, if I didn't you'll be bitch'n around that I didn't let you at it. Besides I prefer to have all sides covered. The damn thing doesn't put her life at risk, but it's her mentality that I'm worried about. The Genjutsu is working in conjunction with a sealing array, which it's the one suppressing her feminine traits. All the while the Genjutsu seems to instill unreasonable amounts of hate for one Itachi Uchiha"

"Nasty piece of work" said Yoruichi with a raised eyebrow.

"That's not all I'm afraid. From what Ichigo tells me after his little visit, I'm very sure they don't know squat about her being female. They most likely didn't even bother to do a psych evaluation; a ploy of the civilian council to keep her docile enough I'd wager. Lastly she has an overlapped seal courtesy of Orochimaru, which as far as I can tell feeds off on her hate and will make her dependent of whatever little power boost it gives her. Like any drug; it'll end up wasting her body on the long run. Worst yet it seems that the damn thing actually has a piece of the bastards soul in it; don't want to even know what for" finished Sui-Feng with a drawn out sight as she pinched her nose bridge and scowled all the while. Her mentor actually looked dumbfounded with wide eyes until she whistled.

"Well now it seems that we have our work cut out for don't we, I for good measure can't stay with arms closed before something like this" Said Urahara in his cheery voice but Sui-Feng saw the steel in his eyes and sharp focus on them as she looked at him. She nodded at him, from what she had gathered before her dead Urahara always felt ashamed for the whole breeding-Ichigo-as-anti-Aizen-weapon thing.

"Thanks, lets get to work then"

"I'll go let Ichigo know what's happening, then come back here" Said Yoruichi going out of the room.

"Thanks Yoruichi-sama"

"Don't sweat it Little Bee" she chirped as she shunpo'd out.

"Well I must say that this shinobi buissness certainly gets more exciting by the minute" chirped in Urahara. Sui-feng rounded up upon him and smacked him in the back of the head, with a frying pan. The mad scientist stared at her dumbfounded wondering from where she had procured a frying pan of all things; as he idly rubbed the newly formed lump oh his head.

"URUSAI*! DATTEBANE!"

Naruto wasn't sure how to feel about what he had just been told; happened some hours ago. Really now, Sasuke was actually a girl. It was mind blowing and kind of ridiculous if he was honest. He knew he wasn't the brightest kunai in the rack; it didn't help he almost always wore his mask. It wasn't like was a genius prodigy in hiding though. He simply didn't let on in his true intellect. So even he knew how outlandish and overcomplicated the whole thing seemed. Really, just what the Uchihas had in their heads that it seemed they always screwed themselves over and over; even among themselves!

Anyway, if he understood correctly Sasuke was made to think he was a boy since the Uchiha massacre; which explained why the whole _Last Uchiha_ deal, by none other than his- er -her own brother with an super-uber -strong Genjutsu. Apparently the whole village none the wiser, that's fucked up right there. He groaned staring at the floor while he sat waiting to know more after he was informed. Suddenly he was startled out of his ministration by a hand on his shoulder.

"What's up son?" asked his Tou-san with a sympathetic look.

"I don't know Tou-san, what should I do?" he whined a bit. Ichigo understood his problem, though.

"First of all don't whine, it never gets anything done" he said as he flicked him on his forehead, albeit much softer this time "secondly; what's done is done, Sasuke is a girl that's not going to change. It never did, it was just disguised. On the flip of the coin ask yourself this; does the fact that Sasuke is a girl changes anything? The things you experienced together, all the training you both did, all the work, obstacle & dangers you both faced. Does any of that suddenly didn't happened because now we know that Sasuke was a girl?" that got Naruto thinking as he went over all their trails since they became team 7.

"No I guess it doesn't, we still chased the damn hell cat; went to wave and faced the Chunnin exams. So, he- she'll still be the same Sasuke then?" he replied uncertainly

"Of course not, there's no way that she'll be _exactly_ the same-"

"Wha-"

"However! Even if she's no longer the same person than before, she's still Sasuke. Just as you're no longer the same Naruto from when you were in the Academy, but you're still Naruto aren't you" continued Ichigo not giving Naruto chance to protest. He paused at his example and got thinking. While he wasn't one to do a lot of introspection, it wasn't like he couldn't.

Ichigo eyed his son thinking hard and it almost looked like the whole exercise was painful. He was relieved to see that he kept at it, almost like he sensed the importance of the matter. He chuckled at bit and ruffled his hair again. Naruto actually seemed to not notice.

 _"_ _So he's really thinking hard about this; I'm glad, he can truly get his act together when it most matters. Let's just see if we can get him to drop the mask, else the lie will become a truth"_

As minutes passed Naruto was getting restless, going in circles and circles in his introspections without a clear answer. He never had spent so much time without going off and do something about it. What gave him pause were the knowing looks that his Tou-san seemed to give him, from time to time when he spied a glance at him. Almost as he knew that he wanted to just bolt up a go to Sasuke without pause. Naruto half expected to be chastised and told to stay put, but, his Tou-san just grinned amusedly at him and stayed silent. That was precisely what threw Naruto off the loop and it wasn't like he was ignoring him as he was used to. In a way he was calmed down by the steadfast aura that seemed to roll off his Tou-san. He was like an unmovable rock of confidence that was there just for him; silent, serene, almost lost in the background but with a very real presence. Suddenly the shoji door slided open and Sui-feng entered the room. Naruto looked upon his mother, the obvious question written all over his face. She motioned him to come closer.

"Come Sochi, there are somethings to clear up" Naruto turned to his Tou-san Ichigo just nodded and smiled to him.

"Hai, Kaa-chan" she smiled at him and passed her arm over his shoulders, while giving a brief glance at her husband. He just silently gave his support mouthing a soundless _it's okay_ as he stood up and went out.

"Now Sochi for now you can't see her, but I want you to write some brief letters to her for now. I can't let you see her for now until she calms down and come slightly to terms with her situation" said Sui-feng sternly not giving him chance to protest.

" 'kay Kaa-chan. You'll see, Sasuke is very strong she'll pull thru!" he replied with enthusiasm, Sui-feng chuckled and patted his head.

"I'll take your word then Sochi, however there're a few thing you'll need to know before you meet her…"

* * *

Back at the elemental nations barely a day after the invasion. The remnants of the Oto-Suna invasion were scrambling to get a measure of order after the cluster-fuck of failure they suffered because of Orochimaru. Suna had suffered a lot through history and had perhaps suffered more betrayal than most villages. As such they had a very strict protocol for if things went south, the problem now lied with the fact that Orochimaru had acted as the Kazekage. While impersonating him he had cunningly removed those protocols, and just now became evident he waged a misinformation campaign between the different corps. As such there was a lot of chaos since not every division had the same directions and retreat coordinates.

At the moment Baki was the oldest commanding officer, so it fell to him to organize the retreat and try to minimize any MORE casualties. Night had fallen and they now had set up camp roughly 10km far from Konoha. While he would prefer to put even more distance between themselves and Konoha; they simply couldn't. The invasion forces were too tired, too injured or both. So for now they set up camp, bunkered up, kept light to a minimum and hope that the Konoha shinobi were too busy healing their own wounds.

The only saving grace was they were much more used to operate at minimum light as in the desserts very rarely there was any kind of cover. The thing that irritated him the most at the moment, even if he didn't showed it, was the fact that for now he couldn't do anything more than wait till morning. The orders were given, the scouts out there ready to redirect stragglers or give the early alarm; new regroup points were assigned but still had to wait till the troops arrived to the hastily made outposts. The only good thing from the whole fiasco was the appearance of those two that fended off Orochimaru AND the Ichibi. It was so sudden and unexpected that pretty much made both sides pull back. He had been receiving conflicting reports on who they were or from they came but they all pointed that at some point during that fight with the snake Sanin and the hokage they appeared. The woman went to the Ichibi and provided support for the Konoha gennin that took down the demon by waking up Gaara, while he didn't witnessed it he did heard the thunder like strikes she delivered.

He was close enough to the battle at the arena to see from the shadows how the man with orange hair went toe to toe with the Sanin and broke thru the barrier two times, talk about rubbing it in. his musings were interrupted as a sob came from the other corner of the tent. Temari seemed to be still very distraught as Kankuro tried to comfort her. Even if it they became his team for the plans sake, he had come to care for the triplets; if admittedly less so for the container. The siblings had tried desperately to bring Gaara to safety, after it was clear the whole plan wouldn't really work. Unfortunately for them the woman came and picked both Gaara and the genin kid, along with the Uchiha. From Temari's description the woman was somewhat petit with deep crimson hair, violet eyes; she wore strange clothing for a shinobi, a formfitting cloth that leaved her back exposed. She arrived clad in white lighting, had a brief word exchange with the Uchiha and the other gennin and according to Temari said some sort of incantation. Then some jutsu binded all three of them and she hauled them back to Konoha.

"It's okay Temari, Gaara is a too high value prisoner they won't kill him"

"That's the problem! He's a jinchuuriki, they won't give him back" she snapped back in hushed tones. Baki would have concurred normally, but, he had a feeling that those two unknowns weren't strictly speaking allies to Konoha.

"There's a chance, albeit small, that the woman isn't allied with Konoha" replied Kankuro. Temari looked like she was gonna rip him a new one; so, baki intervened.

"He's right, there's no way for now; to know for sure. Yet a few things suggests that the woman and the man that battled the Ichibi and the snake Sanin aren't in league with the Leaf. The Leaf shinobi were too surprised at their appearance and from I can gather from the reports they were intent on getting to the blonde gennin. They completely ignored the ground forces, save apparently for one of Orochimaru's followers, going straight for the brat and retrieved him. While I don't have proof as of now I gather they took Gaara in the confusion not wanting to waste time, resolving whose with who" interrupted Baki

"Sensei…"

"Sensei…"

Baki put his hand on Temari's shoulder trying to calm her down and spare Kankuro of his sister's ire.

"For now try to rest…" he drawled and suddenly whipped around throwing one of Suna's special kunais which was longer and narrower than the standard; it could pass as a short sword. It sailed and nailed a seemingly solid shadow by the entrance post. The shadow instantly morphed and revealed to be a black jacket, now hanging loosely on the post. The siblings got their guard up covering Baki's 6 o'clock. Before any could sound the alarm a voice was heard.

"I got news upon your compatriot" that made the siblings still and froze. Baki narrowed his eyes glaring at the entrance. He couldn't see, hear, or smell the intruder but could sense a muffled presence by the entrance. He very dearly hoped that the fact he could was because of a slip up from the intruder and not because he proposedly let him sense him.

"Speak" replied Baki

"We wish to set up a delivery for your compatriot" Baki inwardly arched an eyebrow.

 _"_ _Just like that? No, there must be something for them to gain. Even then why not just hand him to Konoha?"_

"In exchange for what" now, the Squad 2 member knew that Kuroshiba-sama wanted nothing in return but; both he and Sui-feng-sama agreed that requesting something in exchange would arise less suspicions from the already paranoid shinobis.

"Not much, we picked him up at the request of Naruto-sama's request. His _saving people thing_ is well known to us. We have some buissness pending with Konoha, can't have them have the upper hand now can't we" he said in a light mocking tone, though Baki couldn't be sure if it was directed to him or Konoha.

"I suppose not, so?" replied Baki trying give the speaker the need to talk more as it seemed this _one_ was a talker.

"We just need a place where we can _touch ground_ so to speak should the need arise"

"Suna's not in a good position to house possible threats or refugee's"

"Then you can deny, deny, and deny all involment. Not that it should get to that point anyway, at most it'll be a rest & refreshment point so to speak"

"If you return Gaara I'll see to it" as of now he had the top decision priority until all forces regrouped in Suna; that included possible alliance deals.

"Good we'll meet you here in… 3 days' time starting tomorrow good enough?" a scroll with a map was tossed inside. Temari recovered quickly and showed it to Baki. He made an estimate and considered most of the troops would have gathered and parted back home by then.

"Good enough"

"Perfect we'll meet at the end of the third day" the wind blowed and Baki stopped sensing the intruder. Kami-damned he just hoped that if they were being played it wasn't too badly.

"Sensei…"

"Get some sleep Temari, right now we can only wait"

"Hai…" she replied dejectedly.

"Come on sis, we're no good to no one dead on our feet" said Kankuro guiding his sister to one of the sleep sacks.

Long gone up in the trees a member of Squad 2 reunited with his teammates and resumed traject back to the reunion point. He silently cussed himself for that slight slip. Upon hearing they were apparently keen on recuperating the boy his reiatsu control sliped a little bit giving away his general position; even if from there things went as planned he could have been compromised because of that mistake. Silently he grouped up and picked up the pace.

"Everything went well?" asked the one in charge

"Well enough they agreed to the meeting"

"Good you'll go give a full report at HQ, give me only the highlights"

"Hai"

 _"_ _Kuroshiba-sama and Sui-feng-sama will be pleased, according to them it'll be better in the long run to have good relations with this Suna-village. Once they finish settling they should send their_ olive branch _to them"_

"We'll talk about your little slip latter" the leader said neutrally.

 _"_ _Damn!"_

"Busted" said another member.

"Shut up" responded the affronted sullenly.

* * *

The nine tails beast, otherwise known to a very few as Kurama, tried once more to idly scratch his chin and found that impossible as he was still bounded. He suppressed a growl and kept watching the _highlights_ the 4th past life; though it would probably be better to get used to calling him Ichigo. Despite himself he had to admit that his life had been filled with strife and were most humans would have broken thousand times over he held and kept going. At first he thought of him as another self-entitled jumped up human, going on his own view of morality and what not. He actually enjoyed a little the bits and pieces of this supposed inner hollow and the despair he felt.

That quickly vanished when he actually started to befriend the supposed _heartless monsters_ in his foolish trip to the hollow dimension; though this _Nel_ and her brothers were downright annoying. Then came the choice he made against the hideous butterfly like thing this Aizen had become. The Biju Lord for his life wasn't sure he could make that choice, to sacrifice all of his power, his very existence as Biju. The fact that the Shinigami where basically clumps of solidified yin energy made him sympathetic.

Speaking of being sympathetic, he also came to be fucking pissed at this Aizen. He never though the day would come that there would be someone he would loathe more than those damnable Uchiha and Madara specially, but look and behold he fucking wanted to claw that freaking smirk of the bastards face.

 ** _"_** ** _According to plan my ass!"_** though crossly the Biju Lord.

Now the other really important things he had learned was the reincarnation cycle and its possible mechanics; which he gleaned from the memories in themselves and NOT from the crappy drawings from that Rukia woman. They were really _really_ crappy things. He had this niggling suspicion that the hollow creatures were actually an integral part of the system. All suspicions and theories; but anyway. The fact that the hollows stopped hearing the voices upon reaching vasto lorde class made him suspect that perhaps the other souls were somehow passed upon the cycle having perhaps lost their EGO; and the remaining spirit energy was kept by the vasto lorde. Maybe that was why they regained a somewhat human appearance since now their bodies only had to deal with a single soul or consciousness. A prototype system from before the Shinigami times? Perhaps. The important thing was whether his own soul was subject to the same rules, or not.

He was no fool, the toxic aspect his chakra had acquired was due to the growing hate he had developed thru the centuries. Should these rules apply completely to him he would most likely become a hollow and in the best of cases; perhaps just loose his chakra, middle case he would _truly_ become a mindless beast of hunger and destruction.

 ** _"_** ** _Is this the Karma you spoke of, Old man?"_** he thought ruefully.

True worst case scenario, he would go straight to hell after receiving the _judgement_. For the very first time in his existence the Biju was dreading the consequences of his past actions. The memory alone of the gate of hell was enough to give him chills. The less be said about that sadistic and dark laugh the better. A bit thankful the viewing had skipped the _details_ from the idiot's trek to hell.

* * *

He left a soft sigh escape and focused once anew on the memory viewing, he wasn't sure _why_ had the Four-Shinigami Capt. decided to show him his memories. However; he was sure after this some pretty big life changing decisions would have to be made on his part.

Ichigo read the reports from the reckon troops from the 2nd that Yuushiro had lended to them. So far things seemed to be going quite nicely. They now were making a few inroads with Suna and the loopholes they were going to use against the council were quite solid. They would be using their own greed against them in manner of speak. He was truly thankful that the time displacement was so keen between the Elemental Nations and Soul Society; it allowed them to plan quite a bit ahead of time and still have so quality time with Naruto.

Speaking of spending time with his son, they had actually started him with some real training super speeded up with the help from his clones. Ichigo paused his work at that thought, he truly needed to figure out how to replicate the shadow clone technique, as he gazed at all the reports that were beginning to pile up. One time of ever eternal paperwork was enough thank you. It would have to wait for a bit regretfully, yet no too long; he and Sui-feng needed to get familiar with their new bodies ASAP. He was suddenly broken out of his musings as a cry of pain from his son reached his ears. Glancing to the courtyard he saw his wife having just submitted Naruto in a chokehold on the ground. Just barely to the side there was a group of clones doing some katas dutifuly; their reward obviously would be ramen. Behind both another group of clones were doing a new variant of chakra exercises that Urahara suggested; with his usual giddiness and corny fan. The clones were basically doing an obstacle course while walking on the pond water, acompayed by the Gaara kid. Ichigo was sure the kid didn't need very much theese excercises, but it seemd that the constant company of naruto was doing wonders for the brat.

 _"If i remember right the Uchiha brat will join us tomorrow and then we'll go deliver Gaara few days after that, mmm barely two to three days back at the elemental nations; that gives us yet a few more days here to evaluate the girl"_

"Come on Naruto! Don't slack off, else you won't get any ramen" he mock warned his son with a chuckle.

"No way dattebayo!" was the expected answer, as he got up and continued his spar session with his mother.

Speaking of training, Tayuya-chan was also receiving some sort of maid instruction from Byakuya's retainers he supposed. He really didn't want to know, he only went along because the pleading eyes and silent resolve from Tayuya-chan. Sui-feng seemed to find it amusing, he found it annoying. Downing a cup of sake he looked at the troop reports, it seemed there were a lot of voluntaries, lots & lots of them. So a few intern competitions were organized. With a sight he remembered then the other annoying issue they had; hero worship. The old guys seemed to tone it down, but the young generation were simply star struck. They all wanted the _honor_ to assist the war heroes and their family; idiots. Last time Naruto wanted some ramen while they were passing through the merchant district; the idiots started a fight trying to be the one to buy some ramen. Worst of all the stand kept trying to give them food for free; Naruto obviously tried to take them on the offer. _Obviously_ he was quickly put back in line by his mother; albeit with some reluctance on her part.

Ichigo silently sniggered at the thought, looks like more and more from their past life's surfaced ever so slowly. Sui-chan looked; if one knew what to look for, like she was one step away from quaking and taking up the offer of ramen all on her own. Though as amusing as seeing the slight gleam on his wife's eyes at the offer, he'd stayed quiet, better saved for future teasing.

Taking a sip of tea he glanced at another sheet of reports, this one from the Hueco Mundo forces. He was mildly impressed with Tier Hallibel swift response. All the numeros were already selected and accounted. He even recognized some of the names and frankly most of them had been damn right scary in their own way from what remembered and had been told from the war. Any of them.

The Tres Bestia were among the top names he recognized, though he idly wondered if they had to be cajoled to come they were very attached to Hallibel from what he remembered. He had been very clear to Hallibel that he would not suffer petty insubordinations if they wanted him to prove something they better do so before they went off. He really didn't want to suffer some hot-shot. The sister Loly & Menoly were the next familiar names; Inoue had talked about them some time ago. Supposedly they weren't all that strong but could be damn vicious and had poison like abilities and he somewhat remember they had been on the last assault so they couldn't be weaklings and have survived that cluster-fuck. Last one was a familiar one for Sui-feng, Ggio Vega. The most shinobi like arrancar that existed, save for his last _battle form_ he was completely geared for assassination and speed combat. From what she said he was supposed to be dead and buried, or so to say. In the end they chalked it off to Mayuri and his crazy experiments.

On the other hand the names of the Quincys were mostly unfamiliar to him. Some of them he vaguely remembered from the time he came down from the royal palace. Candace Catnip he guessed was the _biri-biri_ * girl and Lilloto Lamperd if he remembered right was the stoic petite girl, Menina he thought to remember her power was super-strength or was super hunger; bit iffy on the details. Bazz-B though, he didn't know anything about him. The name kind of niggled at him but that was it. Sui-feng had only said he had been among the elite forces but seemed to have planned to defect all along or something. He would've to ask Ichida at a later time.

Last but not least the lack of know of which Espada was going with them had him a bit miffed and nervous. He was sure that it was going to be someone troublesome.

 _"_ _Look at me, I'm starting to become a Nara"_ he thought ruefully. Thing was that when he asked Hallibel she gave him a silent stare with an amused glint in her eyes; according to Toshiro she might as well cackled evilly while reviling in her nefarious plan about to unfold. He just hoped she wouldn't send Grimmjow; though the _Grimmkitty_ quips would be hilarious.

 _"_ _I ought to thank Nel for that one"_ he mused with a chuckle.

"I'm beat! Please~ gimme some ramen~" Naruto whined.

"Language! Please speak properly sochi" scolded Sui-feng as she pulled lightly; for her, on his ear.

"Ite, ite, ite, sorry Kaa-chan!" Ichigo just smiled and beckoned them to follow him to the dining room.

"Come, lets eat" he said as he folded the last piece of the reports. This one in particular had left a very bad after taste. He consulted the results with Sui-chan when Urahara left the report; apparently save letting it degenerate they had little choice in the matter. The fox had consented and seemed to be willing to bet his power for a chance at freedom even if the chances of coming out as _itself_ were not that encouraging. Only time would tell what would come out of it, he just hoped Naruto would be strong in spirit if worse came to pass.

He let out a heavy sigh, which didn't get past Sui-feng, for now there wasn't much could do in that respect. So he sat down and smiled as Naruto and the Gaara kid came for lunch. He very much hoped the Uchiha brat stayed sharp.

 _"_ _The Psych-test said she needed constant counsel, but barring aggravation because of the damage done already she was still not too far gone"_

* * *

In the confines of the palace of Las Noches a gathering of several Arrancars stood before their leader, the one who took the broken mantel of leadership after a certain crazed Shinigami with god complex fucked up even more the already difficult existence they led. Tier Harribel had taken the fragmented factions that remained and gathered them both thru true leadership and; when the situation required, overwhelming force. She was widely known as the Queen of Hueco Mundo; both by the external powers and most of their home residents. However she and a few others knew who the white sands responded to.

_ you all know what's expected of you, DON'T fail on your duty; DON'T fail Hueco Mundo _ the former 3rd Espada said coolly with deceptive passiveness but the oppressive reiatsu pulsing from her disavowed of that notion.

_ HAI! _ All the troops gathered for the coming expedition to this new dimension responded immediately.

_ Dismissed, Tres Bestias stay _ she ordered in her usual slow cadence and monotone voice. Every numero save the aforementioned exited the room. Her oldest subordinates closed up on her and kneeled barely five steps before her.

"Harribel-sama" they intoned at the same time. Harribel eyed them silently, they had barely changed outwardly since the Thousand Year War. Inwardly was another whole matter, however.

They too had been saved by Kurosaki Ichigo and his wife. After everything was said and done, during a gathering, the grieving friends of the couple had commented passingly about Kurosaki's hard headed abandon when training. That had caught her Bestias attention and asked more about it. The result was they had spent the last century and a half training like mad. Whenever they weren't on a mission, some kind of obligation or being _made_ to rest by her; they were training and building up their strength. When asked about it, they always said something along the lines of _if some like him saw the need to train, how could they not too,_ and the results showed how true that was. Right now these three before her were by all rights as strong as the past incarnations of the Espada, could take head on most Captn's. In fact they could have risen to Espadas themselves but decided to stay as her fraccion still. She could not be more proud all three of them, even if they still argued. The only silver lining was they stopped doing so in mid-battle.

"I have a special mission for all three of you"

"We are you your disposal Harribel-sama" responded Sung-sun.

"Just say the word Harribel-sama" followed Milarose, while Apachi nodded fervently.

"Know that this task will most likely take you away from the battlefield, however, it will be of paramount importance in our relations with the newly christened Kuroshiba Ichigo" she paused after the first part to gauge their reactions, before continuing. Sung-sun appeared unbothered, Milarose nodded in acceptance; predictably Apachi pouted but remained silent.

"Ara ara, the hothead didn't make a ruckus what's coming our world to" snipped Sung-sun. Apachi gri7

nded her teeth.

"Shut up Sung-sun, my duty takes place above my tastes" she grounded out, frankly Harribel was both proud and surprised at how much had these three grown. The time before the great Upheaval, as the whole slew of incidents which surrounded Ichigo came to be known in Hueco Mundo, seemed so stagnant and stale in comparison to the last century.

"I've offered you three to Kuroshiba-dono as bodyguards to his son. You'll be his shadows, servants, trainers, even friend should he need it; never far and wholly at his disposition. I'm depositing my whole confidence in you three, so we can repay a little to him and perhaps slowly pull him to us; for when the time comes" she added a little too fast at the end.

The three stiffened with different reactions. The Shark Empress could take an accurate guess at their reactions. Anger, indignation & annoyance to being relayed to simple guards; elation & pride at the worded and implied recognition of their worth by her; shock, awe and trepidation as the true meaning and weight of the task ahead. Inwardly she was, dare she say it, amused by their shifting expressions and varying degrees of success at concealing them. Going from acceptable to downright utter failure. Before she would have dismissed it all as useless, now even if only to herself she did extract a small measure of entertainment of it all.

"Something wrong?" she asked, in the same monotone voice without any bite.

"N-no Harribel-sama" stammered Apachi.

"You really are a disgrace aren't you, flat board" snarked Milarose with no small amount smugness.

"Shut up you cow udders!"

"Really now, both of you…" started Sun-sung but Harribel stopped the budding shouting match before it picked up.

"Enough, I know what most of your issues are. I'm not pulling you from combat missions for this task because you are weak or some such. I'm putting you in charge of a VIP security because I trust completely your strength, growth and I trust you'll prioritize the tasks to be done when the situations calls for it" she said, and added a little jab to their pride as her Fraccion to get them on the same page. They all stiffened their eyes widened at the praise she delivered so openly.

"HAI!"

"HAI!"

"HAI!" responded fervently all three of them.

"Good, now we'll depart to SS so you can meet your charge and start to familiarize with him"

"Of course Harribel-sama" said MIlarose as they stood up and followed their leader, barely a step behind her.

"Can you tell us more of how this came to be Harribel-sama, last time I knew both Kurosa- shiba-dono and Sui-feng-dono hadn't had time to… start a family" asked Sung-sun covering her mouth as usual with her sleeve and carefully worded her request. Apachi just whistled in wonder.

"Who knows, that guy always had a way to pull off ridiculous things" said Apachi in idle wonder. Milarose glanced at her leader and saw the ghost of a smirk.

"I'll explain more once we arrive, but the gist of it is that the two of them reincarnated as humans and once again became lovers. On the day that their son was birthed they were killed by an unknown attacker, while they protected their child. Twelve years later it seems someone; somehow managed to resurrect their bodies to attack their very son" well not directly as she understood but nonetheless it would have ended that way should things turned out differently.

"Fuck" so eloquently put Apachi, Sung-sun remained all but impassive save for a slight narrowing of her pupils didn't escape her, and Milarose clenched her fists tightly.

"Yes, rightly put I'd say. As it turned out seeing their son in danger slowly awakened their memories and they both managed to regain their former bodies and abilities, with some cosmetic additions" the three were a little surprised by the apparent light joke she cracked, but were very curious at the last part of her statement.

"Hoh, how so Harribel-sama" asked Milarose. At this the Shark Empress took out a recent photo of the aforementioned two, taken from the Kuroshiba reunion and handed it to them. In it were featured the new Kuroshiba leader sitting on a porch with his wife, while chatting with herself and Nelliel. She was more than impressed that someone had actually taken it without her finding out at the moment, damn paparazzi, she believed were called.

"Haaah? He looks mostly the same, although…"

"He sure has this mature look now, doesn't he" finished Milarose for Apachi.

"Ara ara…" was all Sung-sun said, still covering her mouth demurely.

"According to Nelliel, if tradition holds true he should have another power boost after his more recent death _episode_ "

"Ain't that the truth" snorted Milarose. After a few details from Ichigo's life had been released, certain patterns were noticed by the populace. Much to the ever growing chagrin of Ichigo and amusement of his wife.

"Harribel-sama is my understanding that one of the Espada would ne accompanying us" said Sung-sun.

"Yes, the one in question should be meeting with us near the main entrance. I do believe it'll be interesting what that person do"

* * *

 **Hello everybody really sorry for the long absence, but well a lot of personal problems cropped up. the last of them was that my grandfather died, he seemed to be content with his life and family. he always made it a goal to finish any project that he started; as such i'm stepping up to continue a number of things i had stopped pursuing, among them these stories. I'll be at a slow pace but i'll keep working to be better and do better of me and my life.**

 **To all those who follow many thanks and i'll try to keep making theese stories worth your while.**


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